


Signs of Life (FrostIron Collection)

by usedupshiver



Category: Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Bloodplay, Bottom Loki, Drug Use, Female Loki, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Humor, Kid Tony Stark, Knifeplay, Loki Does What He Wants, Loki-centric, M/M, Palladium Poisoning, Prostitution, Smut, Teenage Tony Stark, Tony-centric, Top Tony, teenage loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-09
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-02-16 18:38:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 45,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2280456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/usedupshiver/pseuds/usedupshiver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So this is a collection of smallish ficlets, one shots, prompts and the like. The only thing they have in common is that they feature Loki and Tony Stark - the rest is a mix of everything and anything that I happen to think of and can't stop myself writing.</p><p>(Note that the tags don't apply to every ficlet in the collection, it's just some of the things you might come across here.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Swapping Stories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Prompt: “We both got in separate bar fights downtown and now we’re waiting in the ER comparing stories”)

It was so late it was early. The waiting room in the ER was half full anyway. By a wall, two young men, who looked like they might know each other but obviously didn't, were sitting with just one empty chair between them. A chair that would stay empty.

One was darker. Shorter and stockier. Spikey brown hair, a darker goatee. His red tank top showed muscular arms, and the right one was half covered in a tattoo. Some biomechanical motif, showing shiny metal and gears that seemed to dissappear in under the skin at the elbow and the top of his shoulder, as if the machinery inside of him had been exposed.

His right hand was in a bloody, messily applied handkerchief.

The one next to him was a tall, lanky thing, legs looking a mile long in tight, torn up, black jeans. One was pulled up to his chest, the heel of a knee high, laced boot hooked over the edge of the chair. Behind it, he was nursing his left arm, slung to him with what looked like a belt, pressed against a dark green t-shirt under a leather jacket.

His face was sharp and very white, his black hair trimmed short on the sides of his head, long and swept back in the middle. When he moved, it threw green highlights in the cold, hospital lighting.

From time to time, they glanced at each other, feigning disinterest when their eyes accidentally met, but finally unable to hold their curious questions hidden by the tough exteriors.

"Tony", the dark one finally muttered, by way of presentation.

"Loki", he got back.

"That broken?" Tony nodded at Loki's arm.

"Sure is." A dark grumble. "I could tell you how it happened, but I kind of doubt you'd believe me."

"Yeah, well, my night wasn't exactly believable either. Why don't you try me?"

"Well, then. I've got nothing better to do." Loki ran his right hand through the tangled mane. "So, here it is. I got into this argument with this stuck up asshole who just looked like he owned the place. You know the kind?"

"No doubt."

"He looked like a fucking Ken doll. I shit you not. All star-spangled too, in this red-white-and-blue t-shirt. Ridiculous!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Some patriotic moron, I guess. And he refused to fight me, would you believe it? And then - yeah, this is the really fucked up part - when I went for him anyway, he picked up an actual fucking lid off a trash can! Used it as a shield! You believe that crap?!"

Loki looked like he hardly believed it himself. "That's what broke my arm. That fucking lid! And when I'm on the ground, arm all over the place, he _apologizes_! And gives me his belt as a sling! How is that even real?"

"That's... messed up." Tony was trying to keep his face appropriately shocked. Inside he was groaning to himself.

_Steve, damnit! I leave you alone for ONE fucking night and you can't stay out of trouble? What's the matter with you?_

"So, that's my story. And you?"

"Yeah, this one ain't pretty either, I'll tell you that much." Tony moved his right hand without thinking, wincing. "I go to this bar, that's just full of sweaty workmen. Carpenters or something, right? Still in their work clothes, too."

"That's not right."

"Right? And one big guy - no, huge! - just is in my face, won't back down. So I punched him. Right in the jaw. Should have put him on is back, and he hardly flinches! What's up with that? Fucking steroids, no doubt."

"Has to be." But Loki was getting a bad feeling about this story.

"So I kept trying. Till my hand just broke. Yeah, I'm stubborn like that." Tony sighed. "And when I'm on the floor, having knocked myself the fuck out, he pulls this damn _hammer_ from his utility belt, and threatens to bash my brains in with it if I don't get out."

"Weird night", Loki muttered, sighing.

_Thor, I swear! If you keep going to after work, you'll be the one ending up in a cell, not me, like everyone's always thought._

"No kidding!"

They fell silent for a moment. Then they turned to face each other, at the same time, opening their mouths, at the same time, starting to speak, at the same time.

Loki saying: "You know, we could..."

Tony going: "We should meet up and..."

Both: "...Talk some more about that weird shit."

Grinning at each other, in perfect synch. Trouble sensing trouble, and already hoping for more.


	2. Cold Feet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I got to know a lovely person who wished for a Loki with cold feet. And of course, I did the thing... <3

Tony had actually passed the bus stop, probably going a bit over the limit, too, when he realized someone had been standing there. It was bloody dark, and raining, and the person was dressed all in black, from what Tony could tell from his rear view mirror, getting his foot on the break. He hadn't seen a thing. 

What he had seen, was the giant puddle of water on the road right there. That he had run through. Pretty fast.

As his car came to a stop, he saw the dark figure turn a face towards him, that was pale enough to make out even in the dark. It was too far away to see the look on it, but the gesture the just as pale hand came up in said it all, really.

Cringing in his seat, Tony then put the car in reverse, and slowly rolled back until he was level with the now very, very wet person by the bus stop. He leaned over as far as he could, unlocked the passenger door and pushed it open. Not until now, this close, was he sure the person was a man. Tall and slim but weighed down by a black hoodie that no longer did anything to protect him from the weather.

”Hey, man, I'm _really_ sorry about that. Didn't see you.”

”Sorry's no good to me now, is it?” The narrow face wasn't friendly, but there was a fragile edge to the voice that pricked Tony's conscience even more.

”Guess not.” Tony angled himself down so he was almost lying over the seats, trying to see the bus sign. ”You going into town? I'll give you a ride. Can't very well leave you here now, can I?”

The man looked down the road behind Tony's car, showing a white profile against the dark woods behind him. There was no bus in sight, and he sighed so heavily it was visible. 

”Fine.” He stepped down off the curb, and folded himself into the car, shutting the door. ”You can drop me off at the bus station.”

”I can drive you home, you know.”

”Yeah, I just asked you to. You driving or not?”

Tont felt his brow knit, but he started the car none the less. Pulling away from the curb, picking up speed, he glanced over. The man had pushed the dripping wet hood back, to show just as wet and just as black hair.

”Are you really telling me you live at the bus station?”

Another sigh. ”No. But I need to take the bus home. You don't want to drive that far out of town again, trust me on that one.”

Tony just made a vague noise that might have meant anything, and drove on. Into town, and past the bus station. Not even slowing down.

”What the hell?”

”Yeah, I'm not letting you get on a bus like that, pal. I'm taking you to my place, so you can at least dry off.”

There were some protests. Tony really didn't care.

In the clean, warm and brightly lit flat, the wet stranger looked even more miserable. When he pulled off the black hoodie, his t-shirt – which was actually green but looked darker – was wet enough to stick to his chest. Tony could make out both pectorals, a hint of lean abs, and nipples, hinting at how cold he was.

”Over here.” He led the guy over to the bathroom, showed him the towels, a robe, and the dryer hiding behind a wall. ”You can figure it out, I bet. You want coffee?”

”I... guess.”

By the time the coffee was brewing, the man showed up again. His hair wildly tousled by the towel, but drier, dressed in the dark gray robe. He didn't look quite so unfriendly now. Probably because it's pretty hard do pull of ”pissed off and hostile” when you are showing bare calves and feet to a complete stranger.

”You have a name?”

”Loki. And you're Tony, I guess?”

”How'd you...? Oh, right, name on the door. Yeah, that's me.”

They sat down on the couch in the living room right by the kitchen. Loki was almost braiding his long fingers around the cup, seeking warmth, but he looked right on the verge of actually starting to relax.

When the first flash and rumble of thunder passed by outside.

It very nearly made Loki drop the cup. He flinched hard enough to make some of the coffee slosh out over his fingers, and yelped when it scolded him. As fast as he could, he put it down, putting the burnt finger in his mouth, and glanced over at Tony, wide eyed.

”I... I _really_ don't like thunderstorms.”

”Lucky you're not still out there then.” Tony tried a smile, and got a quick flit of one back. He started to wonder if Loki wasn't a lot younger than he had first thought, or if it was just the smooth look of shock on his face that did it.

The next flash of lightning made Loki curl up with his feet on the seat. The thunderclap wasn't far behind now. The storm was coming at them, fast.

Tony found he couldn't keep his eyes off Loki's feet. They were long and slim, just like the rest, delicate bones under white skin, the toes just as long, placed over each other as if searching for protection. Somehow, that was the single most heartbreaking little thing he had ever seen.

Under the thick robe, Loki was shivering. Suggesting he pick the coffee up again felt pointless, asking if he was cold felt even more pointless. So Tony just did what he usually did, and fixed the problem, hands on.

He moved over, getting closer to Loki, on the seat right next to his. Then he placed a hand on the back of his ankles, and pushed gently, moving those feet in under his lifted leg, to warm them between the couch and the warm underside of his lower thigh. 

Loki gave a little gasp at the touch, and seemed about to resist the push, but then he felt the heat of Tony's body and any resistance was just plain futile. The gasp turned into a tiny, bit back groan, and he relaxed back against the armrest behind him a bit more.

Tony was gasping too, just slightly. Even through his jeans, the feet were cold enough to burn. Damn! They must have been close to just falling off any minute! He still had his hand on the ankles, and they were not much warmer, so he rubbed his palm against the icy skin, not really thinking about it. But at least, Loki didn't seem to mind. His face did gain a little bit of colour over the cheekbones though, but if it was the new warmth or something else was hard to say.

”Better?”

Loki gave a tense little nod.

When lightning flashed for the third time, thunder making the windows rattle, Loki still flinched, but not nearly as hard as the first time.

Tony's hand seemed to move on it's own then, traveling up Loki's cold calves, nearly to the creases behind his knees, rubbing heat into the skin from his palm and fingers. Loki gave another of those deep sighs, but this one sounded completely different.

When the fourth clap of thunder let them know the storm was already moving on, Loki didn't even twitch. By then, Tony's hand was rubbing its way up his thigh, under the robe, and Loki's face was definitely less pale than it had been.

It really wasn't long before Loki was warm enough to drop the robe all together.

The only thing cold then, was his coffee.


	3. Hot as all Hell

"Do you even care? It is not as if you really _use_ it anyway."

It hadn't been hard to figure out what the man was. He had freaking _horns_! You didn't have to be a genius to put two and two together.

The horns looked like metal, but in a dusky gold colour that didn't reflect much light. They were about the length of Tony's hand, coming out of the brushed back, black hair to curve back and then up again in points that locked wicked sharp.

Other than that, the guy was all perfectly tailored, black three piece suit, a shirt that matched the horns, and a green tie. Fancy as fuck, but completely normal. Apart from the horns. Which no-one else in the bar where they were standing seemed to notice.

"My soul?"

"Correct."

"I didn't really think I had one, and now you want it?"

"I am not surprised that you didn't. And yes."

"So, who are you, really?"

"You can call me Loki."

"Sure you're not thinking of another name starting with an L?"

The horned man laughed softly. "I will let you in on a secret, mr Stark; he does not exist."

"No? There's no devil?"

"No. No great evil in the universe. Merely an endless amount of smaller ones, the tiny, nasty things you choose to do every day. We add up to the same result, in the end, of course. But no, no devil rules us."

Tony sipped his scotch. "And no god, either?"

"The same principle applies at the other end of the spectrum, yes. No great good, only smaller ones."

"Sounds reasonable, I guess. But I still have a soul, you say?"

"Yes."

Tony thought about that for a while.

Loki reached into his pocket, got out a packet of cigarettes and shook one out. It was black - of course - and long and slim. He placed it between his lips before putting the packet away. Then he snapped his fingers, lighting the cigarette on the tiny, green flame that flickered to life on the palm of his hand, before carelessly shaking it away.

He took a long drag on the thing, and let the smoke roll out his nostrils. With the horns and his glowing green eyes, it made him look a lot like a dragon.

The smoke smelled sweet and spicy and rich. It made Tony a bit lightheaded just getting a whiff of it in the air. He understood why he hadn't been offered one.

"As I said, the things you choose add up. We can call the result a soul, just to have a word. And yours?" The glowing eyes traveled over Tony in a hungry way. "It's delicious."

"And you claim I won't miss it?"

"Not so as you'd notice." Loki put the cigarette to his lips again, this time tilting his head back to let the smoke drift to the ceiling. His throat over the golden collar was very long and white and looked surprisingly vulnerable.

"Despite popular belief", he continued, "you don't actually only get the one. Think of them as... pearls. They form by layers inside you, building something precious, in one way or another. If you remove it, a new one will start to form, given the right circumstances."

"A grain of sand?"

"Exactly."

"And you want my pearl."

"Very much."

"You know, you are surprisingly bad at negotiating." Tony lifted his glass with his fingertips, pointing at Loki with the index finger of the same hand. "Telling the seller you really want to buy, that's not the way to go."

"Oh, mr Stark, do not worry for me. I know every trick in that book. Hell, I wrote the thing! But you are an intelligent man. I respect that. Pretending you are a fool would be an insult. So for you, I make my offer, plain and simple, and let you decide."

"Well, make it then, and I will."

Loki killed the strange cigarette in an ashtray, and turned to face Tony completely. "You are planning to travel overseas, are you not?"

"Day after tomorrow. Afghanistan. Sales thing. Packed my suit and everything."

"Dangerous place."

"Perhaps."

"Probably." A smile pulled at the thin lips. "In exchange for the pearl of your soul, I offer you life. When death reaches for you, I will pull you out. Once. And even land you in a better place than you started. A rebirth, if you will."

"Better than this?" Tony smirked. "Really?"

"Really."

"Sounds too good to be true. Probably is." He studied Loki through narrowed eyes. Tony didn't really believe any of it, but what the hell... "Well, all right. Sounds pretty useful. I'm in."

"You are certain of this?"

"Absolutely." He really wasn't, but how bad could it be? He was probably just imagining the horns, anyway.

"Excellent."

Loki raised a hand, and placed it against his chest, flat over his sternum. There came an odd sensation, cold mixed with heat, and something that felt like strings pulling at his heart. Tony gasped at it, not sure if it was pain or pleasure or both. When he looked down, he saw the long, thin hand pull away slowly, something with an odd, opalescent glow nestled in the palm of it. Just for a second, before Loki closed his fingers around it, and it was gone.

Blinking, Tony met the green eyes again. They were slitted by a wide grin now. He felt strangely light.

"A pleasure doing business with you, mr Stark." Loki tilted his head forward in a very small bow. "I do wish you luck on your travels. Until we meet again. As I am sure we will."

In the next instant, he was gone, leaving Tony to finish his drink, and wonder what about that had been real, and what hadn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Horns of Mischief did it again. <3 Thank you for [the gorgeous art](http://usedupshiver.tumblr.com/post/99342671562/horns-of-mischief-a-pleasure-doing-business), darling!


	4. Prim and Proper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Because this prompt made me do it.](http://usedupshiver.tumblr.com/post/97216561677/otpprompts-imagine-your-otp-fucking-in-public)

Loki barely was halfway into the restroom before someone tackled him the rest of the way in, locked the door and had him up against the wall. He knew who it was even before seeing the bearded, flushed face.

"Tony! What are you doing?"

"What's it feel like?" He mumbled against Loki's neck. "I've had to watch you in that damn fine suit all day. I can't take it any more!"

Tony's hands slid in under the jacket, rubbing his back over the shirt and vest.

"Stop it! Stop!" Loki hissed, trying to fight him off. "This isn't a drunken visit to McDonalds at 3 am, this is a Michelin star restaurant! For a wedding reception, no less!"

"So?" Tony licked his ear, and Loki felt himself run out of arguments all too quickly. "It's not _our_ wedding."

"It's not. But I'm the best man!"

"Yeah you are." It was a groan.

"Tony! Really! I don't -" He sucked in a sharp breath between his teeth. " _Fuck!_ "

A hand had pulled down his zipper and was doing things it really had no business doing inside pants this expensive.

"I love it when I make you say things like that." Tony laughed softly against him. "You're so damn _proper_ all the time! I need to get that out of your system."

Loki opened his mouth to ask how, but just breath came out. He guessed he really didn't need to ask anyway. He'd know in no time at all.

And he was right about that.

Tony grabbed the front of his jacket to pull him away from the wall, turned him around and pushed him back against it, face first. Loki put his hands up for support. He didn't try protesting anymore. He really didn't want to. He could be proper another day. Or so he thought, until he felt Tony undo his pants and pull them down.

"You ruin the suit, and I kill you. Don't you even dare test me on that one!"

Tony chuckled. "Better safe than sorry then."

And then he bent to untie Loki's shoes, pull them off, and remove the pants all together. Loki watched him put the shoes on the toilet seat, fold the pants and place them neatly on top. That done, Tony raised an eyebrow at him.

"Better?"

"Much better."

Back behind him, Tony slid his hands in under the now loose shirt, caressing his hips all the way around to stroke his cock again, free of the clothes.

" _Much_ better", Loki repeated, breathless.

"You're so damn anal, Loki. You know that?" Tony took his hands away, making Loki groan. "Going to have to do something about that."

Tony got down on his knees behind him, obviously not at all concerned with his own pants, placing his hands on Loki's ass, gently pressing the cheeks apart. Then Loki could feel the goatee against his skin and felt blood rushing to his face when he had an idea of what was going on. A warm, wet tongue found him a moment later, running over the sensitive opening.

_Oh, holy hell, that is so completely wrong!_

The thought dominated his mind. For all of three seconds. Then the tongue started pushing against him, into him, and Loki went weak in the knees, scrabbling for support on the dark golden tiles in front of him.

_But if it is, then I really, really don't want to be right!_

He heard himself give out a deep moan, from the very core of him, echoing off the walls. Tony pulled back with a soft chuckle.

"Quiet!"

Easy for him to say! He had his mouth full, after all.

When the tongue came back, lapping at him, then pushing back in, further this time, Loki had to fill his own mouth not to yell out. He put the meaty part of his right thumb between his teeth and bit it, hard, pressing his forehead to the wall.

It felt like it went on forever, but it still would never be nearly enough. And when it was over, it took him a moment to realize it was, lightheaded and completely lost. But now Tony was standing behind him again, and the tongue had been replaced by fingers. Fingers that he noticed where way too slick and slippery to just be wet by saliva.

"Tony?" It was insanely hard to speak.

"Yeah?"

"You didn't really follow me in here on a whim, did you?"

"Busted." The grin was in his voice. "But it was because of the suit. I did see you try it on last night, after all."

Standing up, it was hard to relax enough, but Loki didn't even care. When Tony kicked his legs apart, pushed him down more against the wall, and started working his cock into him, Loki winced and whined a bit, but didn't dream of protesting it. Still, Tony noticed the resistance and went slow, pulling back and pushing in by small degrees, letting him adapt.

Tony was all the way in, and had just started thrusting for real, when they heard voices outside.

Loki sucked in a breath and tried to force down the next moan working it's way out of him. He didn't fully make it. And since Tony didn't stop, probably unable to, he soon felt another one coming.

He recognized one of the voices, too. The deep rumble.

The whole situation was insane. The groom on one side of the door. The best man on the other. Being fucked into oblivion against the wall. But somehow it was the most turned on Loki had been in his life.

"Tony!" It was a hissed whisper. "I can't keep quiet. Help me!"

Ever helpful, Tony leaned in and clamped a hand over his mouth, at the same time thrusting harder, forcing him into the wall, pushing the air from his lungs until he couldn't really have made a noise anyway.

Since his hands on the wall could no longer support him, Loki pulled them off it, reached down and brushed the shirt out of the way, stroking himself hard in time with the movements inside him. His head spinning, barely able to breathe, it wasn't long before he came all over the golden tiles.

And then Tony nearly gave him a concussion, cumming so hard he slammed Loki's head into the wall even more forcefully, muttering choked back curses.

Not even taking the time to catch their breath, they cleaned up themselves, the wall, and got their clothes in order. Loki was pleased to notice his suit was still spotless. Lucky for Tony, really.

With one quick nod to each other, they opened the door. To stand face to face with Thor. Who dropped his jaw for a moment, staring at them in the doorway, shifting between their flushed, embarrassed faces. At least Loki knew he looked embarrassed. Tony just grinned, like the careless fool he was.

Finally, Thor found his voice.

"No, brother, _please_! It's my _wedding_!"

And Loki was damn sure the suit would get ruined anyway. With blood. Those stains would just never come out.

Then a grin split Thor's face in half. "If anyone should be fucking in the restroom, it should be me! Now get the hell out, I have to take a piss before I burst."

Laughing, Tony grabbed the stunned Loki by the hand, pulling him out of the restroom.

They were just in time for the cake.


	5. Monster

Tony wasn't afraid of the dark.

Nope. Not even a tiny little bit! He would fight anyone who said anything else. And even though he was only eight, he could pack a punch. You wanted to hint at him wishing for a nightlight, you better back off afterward. Quickly.

Definitely not afraid of the dark. That was stupid! The dark was just the dark, it couldn't hurt you.

What might be hiding in the dark, on the other hand... Yeah, that scared the crap out of him.

Like most children, he made sure his wardrobe was shut tight before going to bed. He ran past the gaping darkness of doorways on his way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. He always jumped into bed from a distance, so whatever was hidden in the dark space beneath couldn't grab his ankle, and kept arms and legs from hanging off the edge.

Safety measures. Magic. Protection from the unknown. Keeping the monsters at bay.

Or so he thought, until the night he found out it didn't work. 

He woke up to hear some noise. From under the bed. Every nightmare he had ever had flocked at the back of his mind, scaring him stiff. _No, no, no, no! Go away! Whatever you are, go away! I'm not here. No-one is here. At all. Go away!_

But it didn't. It just kept on coming. Scraping, shuffling, and dragging, coming closer to the edge.

Tony stared into the darkness that wasn't complete, some hint of the streetlight outside coming through the blinds. Still bad enough when there was something moving under your bed, though. He fixed his eyes on the edge of the mattress, curling up even tighter under the covers.

Noises turned out to not be the worst of it. Tony could soon make out a dark shape moving over the floor, like the darkness was spilling out from it's spot under the bed, stretching and shifting and then unfolding to stand up on the floor. He just stared, frozen in fear, as the shape turned around, slowly, and the barely there light let him make out a pale face looming over him, very far away. The darkness was really, really tall.

Then insane desperation made him move. Light! That would scare this thing away! Had to! He reached out in a quick movement and hit the switch that turned on the lamp on his nightstand. The room was suddenly at least softly lit, and the shadows immediately retreated to their corners. All except the one he had really hoped would retreat. The huge one standing on the floor.

It wasn't all black though, Tony noticed despite the terror. It was dressed in something black and green and... pretty dusty. Same thing with the wild, black hair. The pale face he had made out before was almost white, the long hands hanging by its sides the same.

Blinking in the sudden light, the shadow pulled in a breath, opened it's mouth to speak. Probably to say something that would make Tony wet the bed with fear.

And sneezed.

Twice.

Then the shadow looked down at himself, brushing at the dust, before turning sharp, green eyes on Tony.

”You do not keep a clean room, little one. No-one told you to sweep under the bed as well?”

Tony's jaw dropped. He would have expected a lot of strange things from this creature of darkness, but it scolding him for being messy wasn't one of them. At all.

”My mom does. All the time. But I just... Don't.”

The shadow pulled a handful of gray from his hair. ”Do you also, by any chance, sweep the dust from the _rest_ of the floor under there as well?”

”Maybe?”

”I see.” The shadow shook the dust off its fingers and frowned at Tony. ”You should heed your mother's words, little one. This is disgusting.”

Tony frowned right back, getting more annoyed than scared now. ”Hey! It's not like you should be under there anyway! It's my bed, and my floor!”

”So it is.” Done cleaning himself, the dark man stood still to look at him again, head tilting a bit to the side. ”Where I should be is another thing altogether. I go where I please.”

”Even into someone's room when they're sleeping?”

”Maybe?”

”That's not right!”

”I have never cared much about what is right.”

”But it's important that I sweep under the bed?”

The shadow hesitated. And shrugged. ”Point taken.” It raised a long, thin, bone white finger at him. ”Still, you should listen to your mother. That is important.”

”Whatever.” Tony sat himself up straight against the headboard. ”What are you doing here, anyway? You just... Go around checking up on kids cleaning their rooms?”

”Just you. Not primarily your cleaning habits, however.”

”Me?” Tony felt the fear creeping back. ”Why me?”

”You amuse me.”

”That's... not nice. I think?”

The shadow man grinned and moved closer, turning to sit down on the bed, leaning his back against the headboard next to Tony, who pulled back into the corner as far as he could. But the man didn't come closer, didn't reach for him, just sat there, still grinning.

His clothes were really strange. Odd shapes and cuts and leather details over the fabric, and the one long leg thrown up on the bed ended in a boot. He smelled of that leather, and something spicy and _dark_ and impossible to place. Maybe it was just his own smell?

”I'm not particularly nice. But then, neither are you.”

”What?!” Tony stared. ”I'm _totally_ nice!”

”Is that so? So it was not you who tied your teacher's shoe laces together last week and made her fall and nearly break her arm? Or you who changed the combination on that boy's locker so he could not retrieve his books? Who let the snake in the older children's classroom free when they were away?”

”I don't...” Tony glanced away. ”Yeah. That... Sure, that might have been me. Might have!” He snapped his head back with narrowed eyes. ”You have no proof, though!” 

”Oh, I would never tell on mischief.” The grin was even wider now. ”Quite the opposite, actually. I came to help.”

”How?” Tony was curious now.

”They are performing a play at the school tomorrow.”

”How'd you...? Well, yeah. Why?”

”The girl in the leading role. She was the one who told everyone but you when you walked around half a day with your zipper down.” The shadow tilted his head toward Tony, but it didn't scare him this time. ”I thought you might want to know that.”

Tony's mouth turned into a soundless O.

”Her greatest fear in life is rodents. I thought you might want to know that as well. Seeing as you already know where they keep the frozen mice they feed that snake.”

”That's... _awesome_!”

”Yes, it is.”

”Thanks!”

”You are most welcome, child.”

Tony wanted do say something else, but was interrupted by a wide yawn.

”Sleep now. You will need rest.”

”I guess.” Tony pulled as the covers and slid down in the bed again, then blinking up at the shadow. ”Could you turn off the light? And...” He hesitated. ”Stay until I fall asleep? I... I don't like the dark.”

”I can.” The man turned, there came a click and the room was dark again. Tony could just make out the figure sitting next to him. ”Rest well. I will keep watch.”

A gentle hand pulled the covers up over his shoulder, tucked him in, and with his nose still full of the smells of leather and darkness, Tony fell asleep. He dreamt of mischief.


	6. Chains and Candles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I am so very very ~~not at all even slightly~~ sorry.)

Jason was just about to sneak out for lunch, when he noticed the two men in an aisle, having an intense but hushed conversation. As he moved closer, about to ask if they needed help finding something, he caught parts of it.

”Seriously? Why not one of the bags hanging here?” This was the slightly shorter of the two, brown hair and goatee.

”Not nearly long enough. These here? We can choose the length of the chain ourselves.” The taller one was pale under black hair, straight posture in a black shirt.

”I... _Seriously?_ The longest here is ten yards. You need more?”

”Yes. Definitely.”

”Fine!”

”The only question is which colour?”

”You're kidding, right? How is that even important?”

”I have to explain to _you_ the importance of the look of a thing?”

”Well. No. But I'll tell you one thing; we'll need to reinforce the frame. It's not going to take all this. We should have gone with the metal one. I told you.”

”Wood is better.”

”You keep saying that, but -”

The shorter man discovered Jason, stepping up behind them.

”Oh, hey man! You work here?”

”I do. You need something?”

”Yes! Looked all over for duct tape, but we -”

”No!” The taller man leaned in between them. ”We did not!” Turning to his companion. ”It smells _disgusting_ and I will not have it in the house!”

”Fine!” The man with the goatee threw his hands up, and turned away.

With a pleased smile, the dark one adressed Jason again. ”We do, however, need some elctric wire.”

”Yeah, they're right here, actually.” Jason gestured to the shelves on his right.

”They are all you have?” The man picked up a bundle of white cable. ”I really wished for something much, much slimmer.”

”Afraid not. But you could strip those down and get the wires on the inside out. If you have a sharp knife at home.”

”Oh, I do. Thank you.”

”No problem. Anything else?”

”Rope!” It was a shout from further down the next aisle.

”I have enough of those, actually.”

”Whatever!”

The tall man turned back to Jason and lowered his voice. ”Candles, however, we do need. Green ones, preferably.”

”Interior design is all over by aisle ten to fifteen, think candles are thirteen.”

”Excellent.” He started walking away.

”Although!” Jason called after him, making the man turn. ”The green ones are all scented.”

”Really?”

”Yeah. Apple, I think.”

A thoughtful nod. ”I think that still works. Thank you. You have been most helpful.”

Jason spent his entire lunch going over the conversation in his head. The mental images it summoned up made it hard to focus on the food.


	7. In the Heat of Battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I did [a thing with some screencaps](http://usedupshiver.tumblr.com/post/98216227897/freakinmi-usedupshiver-aidenn-after-dark) that sort of escalated and got out of my hands and... well... Here we are.)

In no way had it been on Tony's to-do-list for this week to go two out of two when it came to getting into fist fights with the princes of Asgard. No way at all. Still, he had just barely got himself out of the suit Thor and his bloody Hammer had messed up, and even more barely tricked his way into a new one, before he was facing Loki and his damn Glowstick instead.

Why did shit like this keep happening?

At least, he'd managed to separate Loki and the scepter. It had been slightly easier than separating Thor and Mjölner, since Loki couldn't just summon the thing back into his hand at will. Luckily.

He'd rammed Loki into a wall hard enough to actually knock the air out of him for a split second, and Tony had taken the chance to rip the scepter from his momentarily weakened hands. Then he'd just spun around and, well, thrown the damn thing away. Out the window. He'd seen it go spinning into the air in a halo of shattered glass and hoped it wouldn't hit some poor bastard over the head when it landed. But he really had had no other choice, had he?

It was that, or get blown to pieces.

Because really, it was bad enough anyway. It wasn't like Loki was all weak and helpless on his own; the fucker just wouldn't go down. Or magic himself away, even though Tony was damn sure he could if he wanted to.

Not that Tony was weak and helpless on his own either, of course. Also lucky, because he could plainly see that he would remain on his own.

The things flying by outside told him that the others would have their asses full by now too.

He shouldn't stare at those things right now, though. And a fist that hit the side of his helmet with the force of a wrecking ball reminded him of that. Too late for a reminder, however, really, because it landed him on the floor, Loki over him in the next instant, pinning him, clinging on, his fingers somehow finding their way into the crack under the visor, like claws, tearing at it. Tony felt like a clam, having it's shell picked at by some huge, predatory bird.

The visor couldn't hold up for long before it came away in Loki's hands.

When Loki half turned to throw it across the room with a clang, Tony got his hands up between them and got a double blast off that threw Loki on his back. For the first time, he didn't spring right back up.

They'd been going at it for a long time now. It felt more like forever, to be completely honest, and even Loki was starting to feel it, obviously. His face was bloodstained and bashed up, the leather of his armor torn on one side, and he was moving a hell of a lot slower. No longer flitting around the room, throwing illusions everywhere.

But he wasn't the only one drained. The suit was nearly done for. Again. He had enough for one more round, and that was that.

He just had to make this one count.

Tony got to his feet at the same time Loki did. Visor off, their eyes could meet for the first time since Tony had managed to get the new suit on.

"Yield, Stark." Loki straightened his back to give Tony that regal, "kneel or I'll fuck your shit up" look he'd been throwing around in Stuttgart.

"Not an option."

Before Loki got an answer out, Tony used every last bit of juice left in his suit to come right at him, full speed, to land a gauntlet right in his smirking face.

At least, that was the idea. But he ran out of power before the movement was finished. His fist hit Loki in the chest instead. It still knocked him over, though, and Tony landed on top of him. The suit now just dead weight on Tony, keeping him down rather than lifting him up, he was stuck with his face inches from Loki's silent snarl.

Until Loki got his hands between them and shoved Tony away, to let him roll onto his back on the floor by Loki's side.

And then?

Then nothing. Apparently.

Both of them just stayed put, panting. Tony didn't really have much choice. Sure, he could remove the armour all together. Run for it. But really? No, seriously, really? No, not an option either.

He didn't think he'd get that far anyway.

Then, Loki finally got up on one elbow, to stare down at Tony’s face. The snarl was gone, but well, no matter. Tony knew what was coming anyway. Or so he thought. But still, nothing.

"What?" Tony almost immediately wished he’d kept his mouth shut, because talking made Loki start staring at his lips instead.

"I have the strangest urge", Loki mumbled, "to kiss you."

Tony’s turn to stare up at the bruised, scratched and bloody face above him.

"That’s not just strange. That’s really all shades of wrong, weird and completely messed up. Actually."

Loki shifted his gaze from Tony’s lips, and suddenly their eyes met.

It felt like something heavy had just landed right in Tony's midriff.

"But you should probably do it anyway."

And then something heavy _did_ land in his midriff, when Loki threw his thigh over him. Grabbing him by his far shoulder, pulling himself from the floor and ending up straddling Tony's metal covered hips.

It had to be the worst idea to have ever crossed his mind.

Why did shit like this happen? At all?

Loki had his hands on the floor, arms coming up on either side of Tony's head, still in the broken helmet. Then he leaned in, angled his head away from the metal over Tony's forehead, and settled his lips right on Tony's, no hesitation what so ever.

Tony quickly discovered that there were actually worse ideas than telling Loki to kiss you right after a fight, in the middle of raging war. Like parting your lips to let his tongue in. Or using your own to lick the blood off of his split one.

Truly horrible ideas, all of it.

It almost felt like the best thing that could have possibly happened when what was left of his windows turned into flying shards, and the second prince of Asgard (The one he hadn't been fighting. Today.) came flying in. Especially since it made Loki snap back from his face, and roll away, breaking whatever fucked up spell he'd had on Tony.

With one last glance at Tony, while his brother came rushing at them, Loki threw his hand up, turned to green light, and dissappeared. Leaving Tony to realize that the last glance had been just completely impossible to read as anything but fascination.

There sure had been some spell at work. But maybe not just on Tony...


	8. Mine, Yours, Ours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This ficlet is now reworked and extended to a three part fic that you can read [over here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2803196/chapters/6292937).)

Science going wrong was one thing. Tony knew all about that, and how bad it could get. But magic going wrong? Now, that was another thing entirely.

When Loki had put the tip of his scepter to Tony's chest, clinking against the arc reactor, he had never anticipated that instead of him gaining control of Tony's mind, he would be sucked into it. Tony knew for a fact that he hadn't anticipated it, because... well... Loki was part of his head now. And not _just_ his head, either.

Leaning with his shoulder against the wall of the elevator quickly rising to the top of the Tower, Tony's body was constantly pushing back tendrils of searching power, trying to get to him. Sometimes the tendrils won. Slithering into the parts of his mind that would give them access to the physical, controlling Tony's body directly. But for now, he shook them off.

Frowning, Tony looked down at the metal cuffs around his wrists. Put there to stop Loki from using his magic when he was in charge. Until someone could figure out a way to pull him out – because Loki himself had no idea how it could be done – Tony was Loki's prison, his gaoler, and very reluctant cell mate.

At least, with Loki suddenly sharing a pretty crowded head with Tony, he had known the scepter could put a stop to the invasion from the other end of space. Lucky as hell, really. That could have ended so much worse. For Manhattan.

For Tony, things couldn't get that much worse, to be honest.

Loki's attempt at world domination had been almost a month ago. By now, Tony would have given every penny he owned and probably a limb or two just to be able to go to the bathroom alone. Or pick his nose without anyone knowing. Anything, really, that he didn't have to share. 

This had to be what hell was like.

In all of this, the only comfort was that he knew Loki was suffering just as much. He knew it because Loki couldn't hide it. Their minds were not completely merged and open to each other, but they were connected enough, thank you very much.

Which was painfully obvious at the moment.

Reaching the penthouse, Tony quickly walked up to the bar, and got out a bottle. Immediately, there came a protesting growl in his head.

_Scotch? Again? Really? It's ghastly stuff and I won't have it!_

”You don't have a choice right now.” Tony fought back the will grasping at his muscles with renewed force, and managed to do it. ”I'm in charge, I choose the drink.”

_I'll make you pay when I am at the helm of this ship, Stark!_

”You know what? You only have yourself to blame. You're the one who woke us up with that wet dream. If that hadn't happened, we'd still be asleep right now.”

_So? You got something out of that as well._

”Shut up!” Tony winced and threw the entire glass back in one swallow, making him wince more. 

In the dark back of his mind, Loki made helpless, gagging noises. How the fuck could a voice in your head gag, anyway?

”You are one messed up piece of shit, you know that?”

_What?_

”Me and Banner do _not_ like each other that way!”

_To be fair, that was not really Banner, was it?_

” _So_ not making things better. For anyone. Just stop talking!”

There came something Tony could only call a snigger in his ears.

_Sensitive spot, I see..._

”I'm warning you, asshole! That was the eighteen year old Laphroaig. If you don't play nice, I pick out the cheap stuff I keep for guests I don't like. Then you'll really have something to gag over!”

_Oh, you do that. Please. I can feel the alcohol working in here already, you know? One more might be enough for me to push you aside right now. You are already tired, after all. Just have one more, rest, and let me take over, won't you?_

Groaning, Tony put the empty glass down and rubbed his hands over his face. ”I hate you.”

_Now, that wasn't nice, Stark._

”Well I am so fucking not at all even a little sorry.” But he left the glass empty, and instead just turned his back to the bar, and started walking back to the elevator. ”We're going to take a shower now. Because your dirty mind is still sticking all over everything. And then we go to bed and try this sleeping thing again.

In a carefully walled up part of his mind, kept separate, or at least so he hoped, Tony wondered when he had started using the word ”we” to describe their messed up condition? They were really not in this together, after all.

_As you wish._

Loki sounded bored, distant, and he kept silent while Tony returned to his suite, walked into the bathroom and got his clothes off.

Stepping into the shower, Tony felt like he suddenly lost his footing. Expecting a tumbling fall onto the tiles, Tony shouted out, but the sound didn't make it out through his mouth, it just hit the walls of his mind. And in the same instant, he realized that he had never stumbled. He had just been pushed aside, losing control of his limbs.

One drink had apparently been enough.

_Oh, fucking hell!_

”Language, Stark.” 

Hearing Loki's words through his own voice, changing it, making it more velvety than when he was using it himself, never stopped being weird.

Loki pulled the shower door closed, turned the water on, and stepped into the spray. At least he didn't seem to want to change the plans Tony had made for them, then. That was something. He could feel the always present surprise when Loki ran his hands through the short hair, expecting and wishing for something much longer.

_Don't even think about it. It wouldn't suit me at all._

”No matter.” Loki lathered shampoo into the wet hair. ”I would not wish to be here long enough for it to grow anyway.”

_That we can agree on, at least._

Tony tried to settle in the darkness of his mind. He was aware of the impressions from all his body's senses, still, when he was pushed back into this hidden place, but locked off from controlling what was his. So he could still feel and hear the hot water, smell the soap, see and feel Loki using it to clean them... him... Tony... 

Ah, fuck it! He might as well stop trying to make sense of this, because it made no sort of sense to begin with.

It was always nervous when Loki ran his hands over the arc reactor, but Tony knew that Loki knew better than to mess with the thing. That would put them both in trouble now, after all.

Then, it turned another kind of nervous, when Loki moved his hands down over ribs and abdomen, rubbing soap into the wiry pubic hair below it. Wincing and cringing mentally, as he always did in this situation, he tried to focus on the fact that it was something that needed doing. Maybe he should be sort of grateful that Loki did it at all, not leaving all the dirty work to Tony.

But then he quickly changed his mind, because -

_Whoa! What the hell, man? It's all clean now. Move along, nothing to see here!_

Loki made a snorting laugh, echoing off the tiles and glass. ”Oh, come now! I have seen more impressive specimens, true, but I wouldn't call it 'nothing'.”

_That is NOT what I meant and you know it! Shut your face and get your hand off me!_

”Really? You seem to disagree with you, Stark.”

With an internal, very exasperated groan, Tony realized that Loki was completely right. Even after that _disgusting_ wet dream, his body was still in the mood, obviously. And it also seemed to have a... thing... for Loki. It sure as hell was a lot more responsive than it usually was this soon after an orgasm.

What was that about?!

_Don't you dare!_

At this point, Tony wasn't sure if he was talking to Loki, or his own cock.

Didn't make much difference anyway. Both of them were against him. Voted down, two to one, by himself and the alien living in his head.

How was this his life?

And as if it wasn't enough that the soap slick hand on him, feeling like his own and completely foreign at the same time, was winning his body over, something was up in his mind as well. Images that definitely were not his own creations moved by, and he couldn't help but watch.

At least the Hulk wasn't there this time...

There was just Loki. And Tony. On some oddly blurry, out of focus bed. All Tony could see was that it was green. And anyway, the important thing was obviously not the decor, but the way the fantasy image of Loki was almost _possessively_ curled up around the made up version of Tony. Jerking him off. Exactly the way Loki was treating his body in real life.

Oh, hell no!

Tony shifted in his dark, locked up space, tried to reach out with all his might, but couldn't get a grip on anything, move an inch, stuck. Frustration rising.

_Fuck you!_

”So, _now_ you want to play?” Loki's voice was husky coming out of Tony's mouth.

And in their shared mind, the fantasy version of Tony suddenly took the upper hand, flipped Loki down face first in the hazy, dreamlike bedding, and unceremoniously pushed into him. Making both the fantasy Loki, and the real one, let out a throaty moan. At the same time, the hand on him made an extra effort, and in the prison of his own head, Tony thought he would fall apart with all the different levels of pleasure coming at him all at once.

There was no way this could get more messed up and wrong.

_Don't stop..._

Okay, maybe it could. 

The moan became a just as throaty laugh. Somehow it was the sexiest sound he had ever heard. 

Tony... Loki... _They_ came just moments later. Leaning with forehead against the tiles, hot water splashing the back of their head. Panting.

In the dizzy aftershocks, Tony felt the walls of his prison soften, lose their hold on him. He was affected by the climax as well, but Loki was in charge of the physical part of them, and had taken the most of the hit. So when Tony gathered his strenght, and burst through the barrier, he broke free on the first try.

With a wet gasp, he was suddenly the one leaning against a cold wall, weak at the knees. All him, nothing between him and reality at all.

”Messed up piece of shit.” The words were hoarse and tired.

_I told you I would make you pay._

So smug Tony could almost _taste_ it.

”Yeah, right, because you got nothing out of that?” Tony pushed back from the wall and washed himself off one last time, before turning the water off and getting out, grabbing a towel.

_One does not exclude the other._

When he had underwear and a t-shirt on again, Tony felt better. Safer. He knew it was just an illusion, of course, but still. Sitting on the side of the bed, pushing the rumpled covers aside, he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, and buried his face in his hands.

”What the hell did I ever do to deserve this?”

_You should never have put that wondrous gem in your chest, Stark._

”And you shouldn't have come poking at it with that goddamned glowstick of yours!”

An indistinct grumble came from the back of his head.

_Can you blame me? Truly? With you at my back, I would never have lost._

Tony let his hands drop slowly to hang between his knees, staring out into nothing. He knew it was simple strategy, but it still felt like praise. From the inside of his own head. How often did he get that?

He shook himself, and lifted his legs up on the bed, rolling over, pulling the covers over himself, hugging the pillow closer.

”Now, would you please let me sleep?” He mumbled it into the fabric as he closed his eyes. ”I need my rest to put up with you, you know.”

_I know. But to be fair, you take quite a toll on me as well._

It honestly didn't feel like he could protest it. It was most likely true. They were going to break each other before this shit was over. He might as well try making it work. While they were like they were.

”All right.” He sighed. ”I'll cut back on the scotch. If it bothers you that much.”

Everything in his mind was quiet for a moment. Very still. Frozen in what felt like surprise. He was even pretty sure part of the surprise was his own.

_I would... appreciate that._

”Whatever gets you to keep our hands to yourself.” Tony groaned at the formulation. Damn trying to put what was who and whose and what into words! It would drive him nuts!

On the inside of his head, Tony could almost feel Loki curl up, like a cat, small and warm and pleased.

_If you really want me to._

Such a messed up piece of shit!

Tony had no idea which one of them he was referring to anymore. Loki? Himself? Both? Some collective creature that was both of them and neither? And then he figured that it made no difference anyway.

It was all true.


	9. You Asked For It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is four little ficlets, really, from a prompt meme I did on [my tumblr](http://usedupshiver.tumblr.com). I had so much fun!  
> And since it's been quiet here for a while, with me doing NaNo, I thought I should post a little something...

**Spicing up the relationship in the bedroom**

"Oh, fuck!" Tony ground his teeth. "Don’t you need to lube it up at least?"

"Of course not! That takes the sting out. And where’s the fun in that?" Loki’s free hand came to run soothing strokes over his lower back. "Just relax."

That was easier said than done. At first the thing just chafed at him, hard and rough, more sharp edges than his ass was used to, for sure, and the fibrous feel of the surface was fucking odd. To say the least. 

It smelled nice though, had to give it that.

"There." Loki’s voice had a satisfied tone, and Tony felt the perfectly shaped piece of ginger settle at the same time.

He also felt, now, that it really wasn’t dry. And he also noticed pretty damn quickly that that, of course, was the point. He gave a little whine in his throat at the heated burning.

Loki just purred. “I do wonder what you’ll taste like, when I take it back out?”

Tony groaned. “Spicy”, he got out, before dropping his face back in the pillow.  


  


* * *

  
**Teacher/Single parent (Plot twist: Tony's the single father/guardian of the kid)**

The teacher gave a long, dry sigh and rubbed his long fingers over his forehead. “Mr. Stark? Is this really an appropriate… outfit for this?” He then returned to staring down at Tony where he was sitting, crosslegged, on the floor. Since none of the small chairs would fit him at the moment.

Tony cleared his throat. “Yeah, well, it wasn’t really the plan. I was sort of out on an errand. When Jarvis reminded me I had a meeting here at five. So… Sorry?”

He glanced down at his sparkling red figure, and noticed that Steve was standing in his lap now. He’d huffed warm breath onto the glass over the reactor, and was using a tiny fingertip to draw a smiley face in the condensation.

“Hey, kid?” Tony gently, gently slid a gauntlet in between his chest and the little face. Wide, blue eyes came up to meet his. “You run off and play for a bit, while I talk to Mr. … Ehm…”

“Laufeyson, sir”, his AI provided by his ear.

“Right.” Tony ran metalcovered fingertips through the child’s blond hair. “Run along, now. If you’re real quiet, I’ll let you play with DUM-E when we get home.”

He got a beaming smile and a nod, before Steve got out of his lap and ran off.

Tony looked up to meet narrow, green eyes. “What?”

“I do so hope you are calling for a car to take him home?”

“Oh.” Tony’s eyes slid away from the pale, disapproving face. “Yeah. Sure. I was totally planning to do that…”

“Sure you were.”

No-one was fooled. 

  


* * *

  
**Learning what the other person likes sexually**

Loki actually squirmed a bit where he was leaning back on the couch, legs stretched out across Tony’s lap. If Tony hadn’t known better, he could have sworn he was blushing.

"You don’t think it’s… weird?" Loki’s voice was quiet, and yeah, all right, that definitely was a blush.

"Sweetheart, you know nothing if you think that’s weird." He grinned and rubbed his hands over Loki’s shins under the black jeans. "You probably wouldn’t know weird if it ran up and bit you on the ass."

Loki raised an eyebrow at that, but at least the slight annoyance killed some of the blush. Which was a relief. Loki shouldn’t blush. It felt wrong.

"Then you…?"

"Of course I will."

Tony moved away a bit on the seat, as he let his hands run all the way down to Loki’s bare feet. Pale and delicate. The long toes curled in when he came closer, as if they were hiding. It was really fucking adorable.

With a gentle but firm grip Tony lifted one of the feet up to his face, and let the tip of his tongue dip in between the big toe and the one next to it. A soft little moan encouraged him, and he went on to lick a broad stripe all the way up the top of the foot, over smooth skin and fine hairs.

"See?" He mumbled against the bones of Loki’s ankle. "Not weird at all." 

  


* * *

  
**Meeting at a party whilst drunk**

Loki hadn’t locked the door to the bathroom when he ran in there. He hadn’t had the time and it had definitely not been a priority. Between throwing up behind a locked door and throwing up all over himself and the floor… Well, he knew which one he preferred.

He was at that glorious stage of vomiting where he felt like he might be done but also might not, when he heard the door open behind him. He was still leaning in over the toilet, just to be safe. The cold porcelain felt amazing against his clammy forehead.

"Oh, shit, I’m sorry man!" The voice behind him was familiar, on top of all the rest of his misery. "I’ll come back later."

"No, it’s all right." Loki pulled back, almost bonelessly rolling away to sit with his back against the wall. He noticed dark jeans and a gray t-shirt with some faded print, and then the goatee… Oh, crap. "I think I’m done here. I’ll just…"

Flailing a bit, trying to get up from the floor, his foot slid away on the small rug and he landed back where he had been, his ass hitting the tiles a bit too hard.

"Easy! Don’t hurt yourself. I can hold it in a minute longer." Then Tony stepped up and crouched down beside him on the floor, a little smile on his lips. "Let me guess? Your brother was behind this?"

Loki nodded. Carefully. Afraid to move too many muscles.

"Yeah, I guessed." He gave a chuckle as Loki closed his eyes, wondering if he was actually going to throw up in front of his brother’s hottest friend. "Those Ragnarök shots? I don’t think they are technically even suited for human consumption."

"Tell me about it", Loki whispered.

"Doesn’t look like I have to."

He didn’t. About three seconds later, Loki did throw up in front of Tony, and he wasn’t sure if it was made better or worse by the fact that Tony actually held his hair.


	10. Cash on Delivery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's for Pinknoonicorn, who suggested the prompt for this - Tony ordering a specific type of girl for a few hours, and ending up getting Loki by mistake.  
> Somewhere it all took an unexpected turn, and turned out a fair bit longer than anticipated... Hope you like it, though! :)

It wasn't the kind of hotel where you would expect to find Tony Stark, and that was exactly why he'd chosen it, of course. He had still pulled the thick, smelly curtains to cover the only window before he sat down in a worn armchair to pour himself a glass of scotch – which he had brought himself – while he waited. No-one needed to accidentally see anything from outside. Not even if that anything was just his face.

Every man had moments he wasn't necessarily very proud of. At least he could get to keep it private. Sort of. He hoped.

Half way through his second glass, there came a light knock on the door, then the sound of the second key card left in the reception being used in the lock, and the door opened slowly. Tony started to put his glass down, leaning forward to get up and meet the woman walking in, but he stopped before the glass had even met the surface of the table by his chair, and just stared.

Because the person stepping through the door and shutting it again was definitely the tall beauty with brown hair he'd asked for. But it sure was no woman.

Tony cleared his throat in a choked way. ”Well, this is a bit awkward.”

The man by the door was staring at him almost as wide eyed as Tony guessed he was himself, and inwardly, he cursed himself. How had this at some point seemed like a good idea?

”I should think so, Mr. Stark.” The stranger had a voice like dark velvet. Any surprise the wide eyes had betrayed was kept out of the smooth words.

Tony couldn't keep a wince back then. ”To be honest, you're not exactly what I ordered.” He cleared his throat. ”I guess that doesn't make this less any awkward, though, does it?” 

”No, it really does not, Mr. Stark.”

”Sorry about that.” Tony sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes. ”And it probably took you ages to get out here from... wherever. So you'd better start getting back to wherever, and I'll -”

”No.”

The short, sharp word cut Tony off very effectively, and it took him a moment to get his words back. ”Say what?” Not the most eloquent words, but still.

”No, I'm not going back.” The man was leaning back with his shoulderblades and one black boot against the door, arms crossed loosely over his chest. ”You requested four hours, at the highest rate. That could pay most of my rent this month. I'm not giving up on that so easily.”

”I... get that. I suppose? But I really don't see how that would work.”

”No?” The man tilted his head, a smirk pulling at the fine features of his face. ”Given your reputation, I thought you would be slightly more imaginative than that.”

Tony rolled his eyes. ”Of course I can see _how_ it would work, I just mean...” He knew this would turn into a ramble and gave up. ”Fuck it! You know what I mean!”

”I do.” The pale face was serious again. ”But still. I'm not leaving just like that.”

”So? What now?”

”Now, you give me thirty minutes of your time.” A pale hand came up to stop Tony when he was about to protest it. ”If you still want me to leave before then, you don't have to pay me a single dollar. But on the other hand, if you haven't asked me to leave when the time is up, I get to stay the whole night. Not just the four hours.” The man tilted his head forward, eyes intent, watching Tony's face. ”Deal?”

Weird getting weirder by the minute. It was impossible to deny it, though; Tony was curious now.

”Deal.” Why the hell not? He was here. Even if he called for his car right now it would probably take more than thrity minutes for it to arrive.

Tony pulled his cell phone out of a pocket, set the timer, showing the ticking numbers on the screen to the man by the door, and then placed it on the table, where he had at last put his glass down. When he looked back across the room, the stranger was already moving over the floor. Not wasting time.

He stopped a step away from Tony in the chair. ”Well, since I'm already a disappointment, I might as well go all the way.”

”It gets worse?”

”Maybe.” A thightlipped smile. ”I know you asked for this colour hair, but it really doesn't suit me.”

With that, the man shook his head, and the tresses of brown hair falling around his wide shoulders immediately started growing darker, until they were all inky black. Then he flashed Tony a grin, as he combed his fingers back through it, to get it out of his face again.

Well, damn. Less than a minute, and Tony was already intrigued. He'd heard of shapeshifters. Never thought he would actually meet one, though.

And the man did look a lot better in black.

”If you can do that, couldn't you just turn into a woman instead?” He was honestly curious.

”I could. A damn gorgeous one at that.” The curling smile was smug, before it turned to a wry twist. ”But honestly, I don't wear it well. As a woman, I'm... sort of an unbearable bitch. 

Tony had no problem imagining that somehow. At all. But still, he knew how to handle bitchy. This? Not so much.

”And anyway”, the man continued, ”it would still be me, and you would know that too.”

Yeah, that was probably true. Tony sighed. ”Point taken.” He glanced at the timer. ”Twenty seven minutes to go.”

”No rush, Mr. Stark.”

That was getting unbearable, all on its own. ”It's probably not in my interest to help you out here, but calling me that won't make this easier. It's just Tony, okay?”

”Tony”, the man agreed. ”I like that better, anyway.” He put a hand on his chest, long, white fingers spread over the black shirt. ”Loki.”

”I guess it's sort of nice to meet you, Loki, even though I didn't plan it that way.”

”Sometimes the things we don't plan turn out the best.”

Loki took the last step up to Tony, but when he bent down it was to reach the table. He picked up the bottle, studied the label, and then refilled the almost empty glass before lifting it and taking a generous swallow av the amber liquid. When he put it back down it was almost empty again. And then he still didn't reach for Tony. He just took the next steps over to the bed, sat down at the foot of it, leaning back on straight arms.

”You might want to plan on joining me over here, on the other hand.”

Tony raised a suspicious eyebrow. ”How's that?”

”By the look of that chair, you have at least two springs poking your ass sore at this very moment. This bed isn't the nicest thing, but it's soft.”

There were three springs poking his ass, actually. And a forth was digging into his left thigh. Tony gave up almost immediately, stood and went to sit down next to Loki on the faded floral bedspread, with a sigh of relief that wasn't possible to hold back. After placing his cell on the covers beside him, to keep track of the time, he glanced over to find green eyes sparkling with mirth. 

”I guess you know this kind of place better than I do.” Tony leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, a sort of opposite of Loki's position.

”Most likely.” Loki leaned forward then as well, Tony felt the dip of the movement, and then a hand touching the leather of the jacket he was still wearing. ”You could have saved yourself the trouble, though. Dressed like this, you draw more eyes out here than you would have at some fancy place in the city. And anyway, the poeple who work there are more than used to turning a blind eye when asked, and paid, to do so.”

”Really?” Tony looked past his own shoulder to see Loki's face. ”You sound like you know.”

”This isn't my first time, Tony.” The thin mouth stretched in a sharp grin, showing very white and even teeth.

Tony huffed a laugh. ”Yeah, well, I kind of figured that much.” Then he turned curious again. ”How old are you? I mean, you look like... late twenties or something, but you can obviously look any way you feel like.”

Loki turned very mock serious. ”Not polite to ask a lady's age.”

”Didn't we just establish that you aren't one? In any form?”

”Fine.” The green eyes made a roll. He was really good at that, and Tony guessed he'd had a lot of practice. ”I'm older than I look, okay?”

”A lot older?” Tony turned on the bed, pulling a leg up on it so that he was almost sitting facing Loki. That brought their faces much closer, but he didn't care. Or mind, really. No matter what, it was a pretty face. And he smelled nice Tony noticed this close. Fresh breath and something spicy coming from under the unbottoned shirtcollar.

”A lot older”, Loki confirmed. ”But I don't have to change to look like this.” He made a gesture to sum up his face and body. ”This is all me, baby.”

”Nice”, Tony smiled, and meant it. The guy was stunning, couldn't deny that. He just wasn't what Tony had asked for.

Tony tapped his phone. Twenty minutes. He might as well get comfortable. He pulled the jacket off and threw it at the chair, then he scooted back over the bed until he reached the pillows where he pushed one up against the wall to lean back on it, legs stretched out in front of him.

”But you _can_ change anything? Into anything?”

”Well, in so many words, yes.” Loki had watched his movements from his spot by the foot of the bed, but now he followed to stretch our on the bed beside Tony. Not too close, his head the level of Tony's chest, his feet hanging off the edge, on his side with his head propped up on an elbow, a leg folded up closer to Tony for support. 

”Colour, shape, size...” He continued after a brief pause, and then trailed off and tilted his head to smirk up at Tony. ”Ribbed, for your pleasue.”

That hadn't exactly been the 'anything' Tony had been thinking about. Honestly! But now that the thought was planted in his head...? ”All right, that does sound pretty damn interesting.”

Loki chuckled. ”Doesn't it?”

”I guess I can sort of see how you ended up in this line of work.”

”Of course you could.” Something just slightly bitter hinted in the velvety voice then, even though the bright smile hid it well. Tony noticed that it didn't reach all the way to the green eyes, though. ”I was made for entertainment.”

Tony looked at the shining mask of his face for a moment. ”I'm sorry. That wasn't nice. I have no idea what got you here, so I should just shut up.”

The fake smile faded and turned into a very honest look of surprise. Obviously he was less than used to anyone seeing through his acting, which wasn't surprising. He had some impressive skills. Probably came with the job. Then Loki's shoulder moved in a shrug, and a softer, more genuine smile came to his lips.

”Apology accepted.” Loki slowly reached out a hand and ran a finger over Tony's belt buckle. At first he tensed a bit, thinking the guy was making his move, but then he saw the fingertip move over the Stark Industries logo on the metal. ”We all do some less than pretty things for money, don't we?”

Tony sighed and turned away for a moment. He covered the unease by checking the time. Eleven minutes. Then a fingernail clinked against the buckle, and made him look back at Loki's face, now looking more amused.

”At least you don't have to get your hands dirty.”

”No, I don't have to.” Tony scratched his goatee and then dragged his fingers through his hair. ”I mostly just do that when I want to have fun.”

”Well _now_ we're getting somewhere!” Loki lit up. ”What kind of fun?”

”Mostly it's just me. And my robots. In the workshop.”

With every statement Loki looked more disappointed. ”Oh. That's not fun at all.”

”Gets damn greasy though.”

Loki's unimpressed eyeroll told him that this didn't help. At all.

Then Tony thought of something else. ”Well, the workshop is one thing, the lab another.”

”Somehow that sounds a lot dirtier”, Loki said.

”Glad you approve.” Tony smiled pleasantly. ”How would you feel about coming by the Tower sometime, to my lab? Let me have some... samples? I'd pay you, of course.” His smile turned to a smirk. ”Since your time is valuable.”

”Oh, is that so?” A perfectly shaped eyebrow arched. ”You want to own a part of me?”

”Guess I do.” Tony shrugged, not letting the phrasing of it disturb him.

”Organ trade, now, isn't that illegal?”

”I'm talking fluids here, pal. Not organs. Only things you'd regenerate in time.”

”Fluids?” Loki turned on the bed, shifting closer, so he could press his crotch against Tony's calf. ”I should say that can be arranged. With pleasure.” Oh, that purr was definitely dangerous, even though Tony was pretty sure it was all fake.

”I was thinking blood.” Tony shot him a grin. ”But whatever works. You wouldn't have to hump my leg though. I could introduce you to this really friendly plastic cup I happen to know.”

Loki hummed thoughtfully. ”How about urine, then?” The long limbs suddenly twisted and pulled Loki up until he was on all fours over Tony's legs and hips. Then his eyes widened in a scandalized look. ”Or a stool sample? Who knows what the things I eat come out looking like?”

That actually made Tony lean his head back on the pillow and laugh, and when he managed to stop and look back, Loki was grinning at him, wide and wolfish. He realized he was having fun, which was kind of new.

”Saliva, perhaps?” Loki's mouth was so close Tony could feel the words on his face.

”That could work, too.”

Even when he said the words Tony knew what they would lead to, and he still couldn't stop himself saying them. He wasn't at all surprised when Loki leaned in the few remaining inches and stole a kiss. A surprisingly chaste one, but still a kiss, leaving Tony's lips wet and warm. Then he thought about what had just happened, and was a bit surprised anyway. He frowned at the pale face as Loki pulled back again.

”I didn't think kissing was all right?”

Loki sat back on his heels, which placed his firm little ass right on Tony's legs, and shrugged. ”I can do what I want.” Two of his long fingers made a casual walk up one of Tony's thighs. ”Don't even need a condom. For anything.” He raised a suggestive eyebrow.

”Really?” Tony's frown deepened. He wasn't convinced. He was a firm believer in 'better safe than sorry' when it came to sex.

”I'm not human, Tony”, Loki reminded him. ”Isn't that the reason you are still here, letting me prattle on?”

”Well, yeah, sure, but I didn't think -”

”I can't catch – or carry – anything human.” The words were very certain.

”Not even the common cold?”

”No.” A headshake that made his black hair dance around his shoulders. ”Haven't been sick a day in my life.”

”Okay, that does it. You just have to come by the lab.”

”I don't really think I have to do anything.” Loki leaned forward, hands on the top of Tony's thighs.

”How's that?”

Green eyes left his face, shifting down to the cellphone on the bedspread. Half a second alter, the alarm went off, and the thirty minutes were up.

Tony grabbed the phone and shut it up, feeling a bit surprised that he had actually lost track of the minutes. Now here Loki still was, not thrown out, and Tony owed him a full night instead of just four hours. He turned to blink up at the man straddling his legs.

”Well. I guess it's just you and me tonight then, Loki.”

”Perfect.” Loki gave a grin that could only be called mischievous. Then he quickly leaned even further forward, and Tony thought he was stealing another kiss. Instead the long, pale hand reached past Tony to the nightstand beside him and grabbed the remote control to the small TV. Before Tony had really understood what happened Loki flopped down on his back on the other side of the bed, quickly kicked his shoes off, and then scooted back to mirror Tony's position leaning back against a pillow.

”I would never have gotten back home in time for the movie at midnight”, Loki explained, folding a long arm in behind his head as he angled a knee up, and zapped quickly between channels.

”What's on?” Tony pretty much never watched TV anymore.

”Star Wars.”

”Shit...” Tony sat up, worried. ”Not one of the new ones, right?”

”Oh, please!” Loki snorted. ”Trust me, I have higher standards in life than you might think.”

The familiar blare of music and words rolling away into space made Tony lean back on the pillow again. Well, he guessed it could be worse.

Twenty minutes later they decided to raid the mini bar for snacks, peanuts and soda before curling up on the bed again.

After another hour Loki, who had been giving a steady, pretty hilarious commentary on the events on the screen, had turned quiet. When Tony glanced over, he found the black head resting lightly on his shoulder, the pale face smoothed out by sleep. Tony hadn't even noticed when that had happened. He found himself staring at that face longer than was really all right.

_”Sometimes the things we don't plan turn out the best.”_

”Well, shit.” Tony sighed. Then he just moved slightly closer, giving the inky head a better angle, and settled in for the night.


	11. Fallout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some legends are told  
> Some turn to dust or to gold  
> But you will remember me  
> Remember me for centuries  
> And just one mistake  
> Is all it will take  
> We'll go down in history
> 
> /"Centuries", Fall Out Boy

Loki touched the turned over, burned out remains of the car with his scepter, hearing a complaining screech of metal against metal as the sharp tip traveled over the surface where paint and lacquer were peeled off.

 _Mine_ , his mind silently dubbed it.

Walking past the wreckage he kicked a piece of crumbled concrete aside. 

_Mine_.

Broken glass crunched to powder under the heel of his left boot. 

_Mine_.

He tilted his head back to gaze up at the sky, overcast and ominously red.

 _Mine_.

When he walked on, still looking up, his eyes strayed to the soaring building on his right. Every window was broken, it was burned and dusty, as everything around it, but it still stood, unlike some of the other tall buildings in the city. On the edge of the balcony a single letter **A** was still clinging on to the building, stubbornly refusing to let go, even though it was tilting, and even rocking gently on the winds that must be stronger up there.

_Mine?_

Loki frowned at the questioning tone in his own, inner voice. Why did he hesitate? Of course it was his. It was all his.

With a step slightly longer than his others he left the street, cluttered with broken cars and other debris, and stepped onto that balcony instead, shimmering with magic. He turned, glanced at the platform curving over where he was standing, and he felt his lip curl in a sneer with the memory of the man once landing there to come threaten him.

Raising his scepter to point at the platform, as if someone had been standing there now, watching him, he declared: ”Mine.”

No question there now. None.

Still, he walked along the balcony to the place where he could see the top of the A on the edge. He threw one long leg over the railing, then another, leaned out with a hand gripping that railing, and placed a boot on the metal construction. Growling, he pushed, with all his might, and heard the creaking, cracking, crumbling sound of the letter breaking off from the building altogether. Of course, he could have used a quick blast from his weapon to accomplish the same result, but this felt so much more _satisfying._

With a final scream of bending, tearing metal the letter gave up its lingering grip on the building and fell, tumbling and spinning until it crashed down on the street below. Loki grinned at the rising dust.

 _Mine_.

He climbed back onto the balcony and walked through the remains of the glass wall, into the ruined room beyond. It was as burned as the rest of the city, just as empty and dead, but it was still here. Even the bar was still there, even though the glasses and bottles behind it were no more, of course.

When he was standing there, looking around, something in the corner of his eye made him turn sharply. A movement. He hadn't seen one of those in a long time, had grown so used to being the only thing alive for miles. But when he turned, there was nothing there. Loki frowned at the empty wall, wondering if he was seeing things, when the movement suddenly appeared again. A light, flickering, then flaring and growing, turning almost solid, although still glowing blue around the edges, and he blinked at the sight.

”Yeah, I didn't think I'd be seeing you here again.” The voice had a faint hint of something metallic, as if it's speaking out of a can, but was clearly recognizable.

”Stark?” Loki made his grip on the scepter a bit tighter as he slowly stepped closer to the man. ”How are you still here?”

”I'm not.” The glowing image rolled its eyes at him. ”Dead as a fucking doornail, just like everyone else around here.” Stark shrugged and stuck his hands into the pockets of his pants. ”I'm a glorified memory and a lightshow.” He glanced down at himself and then back up at Loki, an eyebrow raised. ”You like it? Took a fair bit of work.”

Loki didn't deign that with a response. ”What powers your lightshow and your memory?”

”Trusty old arc reactor. It was just a prototype, you know?” The man looked around him. ”Seems it sucked the energy from that nuke right up, though. Had about a year's worth of juice from the beginning. Who knows how long it will keep ticking now?” Stark huffed a laugh and faced Loki again. ”Guess you'll get to find out.”

”I will. It's mine now, after all. This”, he gestured to the room, and then turned to let his hand include the sprawling, ruined city beyond, ”and all of it.”

”Fucking lovely. Really.” Stark was smirking when Loki turned back. ”You came out on top. Congratulations. On top of what, though? A heap of rubble and corpses? A glow-in-the-dark throne?”

”This was not my doing, Stark”, Loki reminded him, tilting his head.

”Yeah, I know. Guess I never imagined a version of this where our own would press the button and burn us all off the map. Not a proud moment for humanity. Not that I'm a part of it anymore and have to give a shit, but, you know, still pretty damn embarrassing.” He sighed and slowly wandered over to the old, worn counter, running a glowing hand over the surface. 

For some reason, Loki found himself walking closer. He studied the untidy hair, the neatly trimmed beard, dark eyes coming up to watch him right back before they returned to gazing at the bar. It was all so familiar, down to the odd glow under the man's shirt, which he knew had been there even in life and was not a part of the ”lightshow”, as he had called it.

”You know what the worst part is?” Stark took his hand back and crossed his arms over his chest.

”I suppose I don't.” Loki shifted his grip on the scepter, and raised an eyebrow.

”I really, really want a drink.” The dark eyes came up to look at him. ”Really badly. And I can't, of course, and I know I don't actually need it. I just remember that I want it. Should have left those memories out of it, I guess.”

”Alwasy so easy to be wise after the deed is done.”

”Truest words you ever spoke in this room.”

”Oh, come now!” Loki gave the spectre a grin. ”I never spoke a single lie between these walls of yours. And you know that.”

Stark winced at that, actually. ”Yeah, well, I don't like to remember that.”

”Too bad that I will be here to remind you, then. For a long time, I hope.”

The dark eyes glared. ”Asshole.”

”Is that any way to speak to your king?” Loki's voice was a drawl.

”No, of course. Where the fuck are my manners?” Stark did some sort of very exaggerated little bow. ”Your royal assholy highness.”

Now it was Loki's turn to roll his eyes. There was no use to press for any sort of respect from a memory and a trick of light, after all. And it made no difference. At least there was something in these ruins of his that still had a voice. He had to admit that he enjoyed that.

”Be as crude and flippant as you wish, Stark. At least I got what I wanted.”

”And what's that now?”

Loki smiled. ”How quickly you forget. All of this, including you...” He raised the scepter and let the tip of it touch the center of the man's chest, this time not hitting metal but just cutting slightly into the illusion. ”...is now mine.”

The dark eyes, which had followed the tip of the weapon, snapped up to meet his. The man's lips made a sharp, bitter little twist, and then the entire shape of him flickered and disappeared. But of course, he was still there, somewhere.

”I will be back, Stark”, he told the empty room as he slowly walked back out on the balcony, knowing the apparition would most likely be able to hear him. ”Sooner or later.”

A flash of green, and he was back down on the empty streets, walking through his kingdom of dust and rubble, ashes and silence.

_Mine._


	12. Tricks and Thunderstorms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seem to have developed a thing for the boys as teenagers... So, this happened.

Thunder woke Tony up sometime in the middle of the night, and at first he had no idea where he was when he discovered that he was on a thin mattress on a hardwood floor, under a quilted blanket, his head on an unfamiliar pillow. But then he remembered – sleepover at Thor's house.

Right.

Thor's parents were out of town for the night, and the sixteen year old had insisted that he in no way needed a _baby sitter_ anymore. Definitely not! He was old enough to take care of himself. And if Tony stayed over for a movie night, they could help each other keep an eye on thirteen year old Loki too! No problem! Even though Tony had barely met Thor's little brother before, he had happily nodded along. Having the run of the house without grownups around would definitely be worth handling some kid. How bad could it be?

Pretty goddamn bad, as it turned out.

By the end of the night they had still barely seen a glimpse of the younger boy, but he had managed to spread a chaos through the house that was pretty difficult to ignore. 

Somehow he'd set the smoke detector off so they nearly wet their pants with the scare, and then had to climb up on the polished dining room table to get the thing down and shut it up. He had shaken their bottles of coke so Thor got a spray of sugary foam right in his face when he opened his; Tony was smart enough to leave his own be after that. The movie they were going to watch had been replaced by a porno, and their mad, blushing, awkward scramble to shut it off had left Tony with a sore knee where he had hit it on the edge of the coffee table.

But when Thor found his brother curled up in front of a computer with long, skinny legs folded under himself on the chair, the brat had just shrugged and looked infuriatingly innocent. And there was really nothing they could say, because how were they going to prove Loki had done any of those things? Actual smoke could have set the detector off, the coke could have been like that from the store, and who knew who had watched that porno last? (NO, Thor was _not_ willing to dwell on that last question, at all.)

They knew Loki was the culprit. But they couldn't pin it on him.

In the end they had left him by the computer, gone back to watch the actual movie they were actually planning to watch, and then decided that it was time to get to bed. Which meant that they had to hunt Loki down again and get him to change and brush his teeth too.

All of that done, it turned out that Thor and Loki actually shared a bedroom. Tony had to hide a grin at that, and Thor's very, very obvious embarrassment only made it wider.

But still, it had all ended with Tony going to sleep on this spare mattress on the floor between the brother's beds, pushed to the wall on either side of the room. He had placed himself closer to Thor's bed, guessing he might end up with something nasty in his hair if he slept too close to Loki's side. And now the thunder had woken him up. It was still a distant rumble from the skies, but soon there came another flash. Tony counted to three seconds before the clap, that time and then two the time after. Definitely coming closer, fast.

After the third flash he could hear another sound, besides the thunder and Thor's snores – tiny, choked, muffled sobs. Coming from the other side of the room.

Tony sat up and looked over at the other bed. He could make out the faint outline of a curled up body under the green covers, but that was all. He still heard the sobs and little sniffles, though, and at the next flash of lightning the shape on the bed jumped visibly.

Biting his lip Tony hesitated a moment. This was the annoying little shit that had done his best to ruin their night, after all. Insufferable brat! But those small sobs? Nah, just too damn heartbreaking to listen to. So Tony pushed back his quilt and rolled off the thin mattress, crawling the few feet over to Loki's bed and getting up on his knees by the edge, leaning with his elbows on it. 

”You all right, Loki?” He kept the whisper as quiet as he could, to not wake Thor up, but the soft words still made Loki startle and twist around in his bed to stare at Tony. Even in the faint lights of the room his eyes and cheeks were shining wet. He looked very pale, even more than he had earlier.

For a second it looked like the kid was going to manage to compose himself and pretend he was okay, but then a simultaneous lightning-and-thunder combination lit up the room and rattled the windows. And Loki made a terrified little whine in his throat and ducked for cover in his bed.

”No!” It came out a little whimper. ”I'm not all right! I hate thunderstorms!”

With his wide eyes and pale face and broken little voice he looked even younger than he was, and Tony just couldn't leave the boy there all alone and scared.

”Move over, then.”

Loki just blinked at him.

Tony reached out to lift the covers, got off the floor and slid into the bed, nudging Loki closer to the wall as he went. It got easier as soon as the kid understood what he meant and started cooperating.

The pillow was all wet, so Tony flipped it over before putting his head on one half of it. Then he just put his arm around the skinny little boy and left it there. At first Loki didn't move and just felt stiff under the touch, but then he stretched out more comfortably and Tony realized that he wasn't as small as he had first thought. He as as tall as Tony; his lanky look just made him seem smaller.

While Tony was in boxers and a t-shirt, Loki was wearing soft, thin pyjama pants, and Tony could feel his bony knees against his thighs when Loki drew his legs up a bit. His ribcage and back were naked under Tony's arm and hand, warm and a bit damp with sweat, probably after the scare the thunder had given him. But Tony found that he didn't really mind.

”Better?” He murmured the question and felt the blackhaired head sharing the pillow give a tiny nod. 

Then Loki shuffled closer, got his own long, thin arm around Tony's chest, and tilted his head down until it was under Tony's chin, face by his neck. Smiling, Tony rubbed his palm over the faint ridges of the kid's ribs and felt him give a deep sigh and relax even more.

Between the next flash and the following roll of thunder Tony counted five seconds. The storm was leaving. So it would be safe for him to leave Loki's bed as well, probably. But then there was the fist curled into the back of his t-shirt, the knee that had now found its way in between his thighs, as if searching for warmth, and the strangely cold little nose rubbing against his clavicles. And it didn't seem like a good idea to leave now, at all.

So Tony just closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep again.

He could probably come up with some not at all awkward explanation to Thor why he had ended up sharing his little brother's bed instead of staying on his mattress on the floor.

Probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter now has a sequel, right [over here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2280456/chapters/6109670).


	13. Nevus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, I have people to blame... Plumadesatada wanted a sexual encounter between Tony and a female Loki that didn't turn out quite as expected, and XJapanda wanted me to fill a prompt with someone following birthmarks like a trail of breadcrumbs. I did both at once. Because I'm nice like that...
> 
> (On the title - Nevus is the medical term for "birthmark"...)

Tony had to admit that he wasn't sure at first. There was the silky black hair, the shockingly green eyes, a teasing smirk at the corner of a sharp little mouth, and it was all very familiar. But he was still not completely convinced it wasn't all just his own wishful thinking playing games with his mind, making him see things he wanted to see. So he ran his eyes over the woman next to him by the hotel bar again. To look for clues. And also, honestly, just to look some more. Because damn...

They were about the same height, he guessed, but with the lethal heels she was still taller in a way that had him tilt his head slightly back. Also familiar... The features of her face were long and sharp and smooth, marked cheekbones and thin lips making it a bit androgynous - and gorgeous. She didn't seem to be wearing make-up but didn't need it anyway, not with that porcelain skin and that brand of sweeping, black lashes. The deep green dress she wore had long sleeves and was sort of loose fitting, but the material was so soft and thin it draped to show the lines of her underneath anyway; slim, elegant, just a hint of a rounded hip and the slight curve of a breast. Even though the very clearly marked little nipple under the thin fabric distracted him from any further inspection.

"Stare any harder and you will wear a hole in the dress." The voice wasn't offended though, more amused. And made out of velvet, silk and honey.

Familiar, familiar, familiar.

Tony swallowed and slowly moved his eyes back up over the woman, aiming for her long, slim neck and that pre raphaelite work of art her face was. But something caught his eyes before he got that far. He blinked, and swallowed again, harder. Because now he knew, without a doubt, who this really was.

He knew how easy it was to think of Loki's skin as this endless, smooth and unbroken expanse of whiteness. Because for a long time, he had thought of it that way. Before he really got to know it in every intimate little detail, in that way you don't do when you're just fucking someone. He knew the difference very well. Tony had fucked people he wouldn't have been able to pick out of a line-up just hours after he'd pulled his pants back on. Not a proud fact or anything, but true. Knowing someone, knowing their body, that was something else entirely. It didn't happen by accident; you had to care. Maybe Tony hadn't accepted just yet that he did, but he recognized the difference anyway.

If he hadn't known every inch of Loki, he most likely wouldn't have noticed the small birthmark nestled in the deep hollow below the right collarbone. The way the dark spot was a little bit shaped like an ace of diamonds was too much to be anything like a coincidence. And it gave him the same feeling as if someone had just thumped him in his solarplexus.

At once, Tony shifted his eyes up to the smiling face. "I thought you were standing me up."

"Whatever made you think so?" Loki asked in a breathy purr, took one long, swaying step forward and suddenly was positioned right inside Tony's personal sphere. "That's silly."

"I guess it was." Tony bit the right side of his lower lip, his eyes dropping down the green shape again. "This is just... Damn. Where do I start?"

Loki angled an arm and Tony saw a slim hand with long, perfectly shaped nails come up to rest on a hip, popping out in a distinctively unimpressed manner. "Well..." When he looked up a thin brow was arched at him. "You could buy me a glass of wine to begin with."

He could.

He could also get just too impatient to actually let Loki finish that glass, and end up catching one of those elegant hands before heading for the lobby and the elevators. Gold and marble and red velvet interiors flashed by and he saw none of it, everything was just a blur until they were through the door of the room he had booked for the night, and he could turn to face Loki again. Loki, who was now leaning against a wall with one hand and lifting a leg to pull off a shoe, putting the bare foot down and then repeating the move with the other leg. Sighing, he (yeah, no, Tony couldn't make himself think of this ceature as _she_ , even though it might have been more correct) straightened up and moved his adorable little toes against the floor.

"I miss my boots." He pushed the pumps aside with one foot, looked up, and made an apologetic shrug. Maybe worried about not living up to the standard Tony might have for women.

"I bet you'd look fucking hot in your boots like this." Tony grinned. "Or in anything. Or nothing. Or boots _and_ nothing?"

"Want to find out?" The purr was back.

"Hell yeah."

Again Tony took that hand and led Loki into the middle of the softly lit room, and then turned to look closer. Loki was just slightly shorter than him without the heels, and that felt really strange at first, and then just right. Tony didn't step too close, just stood at arm's length, smiling like an idiot, probably. "I just... Need to look at you some more. That all right?"

"Of course." Then the teasing smirk came back. "I know most of your looking is done by hand anyway."

Tony laughed then. "My mother always told me to stop doing that when I was a kid, but I guess I never outgrew that phase."

"At least you outgrew the one where children look at things with their mouths."

"Mostly."

"Mostly", Loki agreed, grinning. His teeth were smaller, but otherwise the same perfect row of enamel and danger.

And really, it wasn't that long before Tony wasn't content with just using his eyes. He managed to circle around the slim figure once, then he closed in and ran his fingers up the outside of Loki's arms, covered in thin fabric. When he reached the shoulders he rubbed the pad of his thumb over that ace of diamonds mark under the collarbone, fascinated by the fact that it was even there. He had no idea how Loki's shapeshifting actually worked, after all. But this wasn't the time for that particular line of thought.

Tony leaned forward and dipped his tongue into the hollow holding the birthmark. The taste was the same as always.

The little moan escaping Loki's throat now was slightly more high-pitched than usual, but even so Tony was reasonably sure he would have recognized it as his among a thousand others.

He ran his hands back down to catch Loki's waist, a bit softer and narrower than usual, but not as vastly different from the lean shape he knew as he might have thought. There was flat, firm muscle under the skin still. When Tony's hands had traveled all the way around to the small of Loki's back they parted, one stroking up along the curve of the spine to the shoulder blades, the other skimming down over the thin cloth covering Loki's ass. Also less different than he might have expected, just a bit wider and fuller. 

He wasn't sure if he was enjoying the similarities or the differences more, at the moment.

One thing he did know that he enjoyed, though, was the fact that neither of his hands found anything under that soft dress. No seam of panties, and of course, no bra. He'd already spotted a nipple at the bar, right?

”All naked under there, are you?” Tony could hear his voice catch and couldn't care, especially when he met the green flash of eyes, sparkling with amusement.

”So are you.”

”Not as naked as you.”

Loki just laughed, a silvery light sound.

And speaking of nipples...

Tony ran his hands up to the sides of Loki's ribcage, his thumbs finding the curve of the underside of the smooth breasts, small and firm with muscle, just like he had expected. He followed those curves up to the two stiff points of contracted skin and rubbed over them, still hidden under the dress. A little hiss of breath told him it was enough that way.

Raising his eyes from his hands on Loki's chest he found the green eyes closed and the soft lips parted. It was the kind of face he just couldn't stop himself from kissing, and he really saw no reason to even try. Loki tasted of wine, this mouth felt so strangely small, but when Tony closed his own eyes and leaned into the kiss the heated response and the strong hands gripping his hair were very much the same as always.

”Yeah, that does it”, he muttered against the corner of Loki's mouth. ”You're not naked enough. Got to do something about that.”

With a new grip around Loki's waist he spun them both around, shuffled a couple of steps forward and then Tony unceremoniusly pushed Loki down on the bed, knowing that no matter the form he still couldn't hurt Loki. At least not physically. But when he kneeled on the mattress beside the dainty, bare feet and looked into Loki's eyes, he suddenly remembered that that's not the only way to hurt someone. Because there was something in the look on that face that gave Tony pause. Some hint of a twist in the lips, a slight tension in the lower lashline. The expression wasn't just thoughtful, but worried.

So he stopped, waited, while Loki hesitated and then spoke up.

"You seem to really appreciate this form", he said, softly, slowly. "Do you prefer it over my usual shape, perhaps?"

Tony blinked. "Why would I?"

Loki's eyes lowered. "Considering the reputation you made for yourself before we met, I thought..." He faltered.

"...that I spent all my time with you wishing you were a woman?" Tony finished it for him.

Still not looking up Loki made a vague little shrug. "Or some of it, at least." He glanced up through the sweep of lashes. "If you want I could stay looking like this, you know."

”I know.” Tony tilted his head. ”But actually? I don't really give a shit.”

Loki's turn to blink.

”It's all playing dress-up anyway, right?” Giving Loki a soft smile he ran a hand up one of those long, smooth legs. ”Even the way you usually look. But it doesn't matter. It's not the costume that does the trick. It's who's wearing it.”

For a few seconds Loki stared at him, it looked like his mouth was opening to let something out. Then it was just a slow breath, almost a sigh, and he let himself relax back on the bedspread, arms over his head. ”You were right. I'm not naked enough.” He was speaking to the ceiling now, eyes closed again.

”On it!”

Tony didn't do something about the dressed state of his lover right away, though. He'd become distracted by another birthmark he knew so well. A round, almost black little dot on the pale skin just above the left knee. Now he placed himself straddling Loki's feet, bent down and placed an open-mouthed kiss on the spot, making Loki squirm a bit. Raising himself up from the kiss he noticed two other marks, lighter brown, right below the hem of the dress resting just above the middle of the long, creamy thighs. So, of course, he had to give them the same treatment. Couldn't leave anyone out of the fun.

Brushing the dress up a bit, he noticed a trio of dark spots on the inside of the opposite thigh. Three's a charm, so those got as many light kitten licks instead of kisses.

This far up Loki's legs, so close to the nakedness under the hitched up dress, he caught a scent that definitely wasn't the usual one to greet him. More tart than spicy. But damn if it didn't go straight to his cock in exactly the same way as it always did anyway. He obviously had been telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help him, when he had said that the shape didn't matter.

Loki was still Loki. That mattered. A lot.

Making himself stop, draw things out, Tony pulled back. He moved up until he was astride Loki's hips instead, just above that teasing hem. Then he picked up Loki's left arm and pushed the soft, loose sleeve up until he found another birthmark he remembered, just in the crease of the elbow. He sucked his own larger, softer mark around the dark spot, before removing the other sleeve. On the right arm he had to almost get all the way up to the shoulder before he found a birthmark. He bit that one, for making him wait.

When he glanced at Loki, finding his head tilted back into a wild tangle of black hair, throat exposed, he noticed a small, pale spot just on the soft flesh under the jaw. That mark got a kiss, and the kiss gave Loki shivers Tony could feel all the way down to the inside of his own thighs, pressed against Loki.

Hands came to catch his hair again, pull his head up so Loki could give him a wide eyed look. ”Still not naked enough, Tony.”

”I told you”, he grinned, ”I'm on it.”

As soon as the steely fingers let his head go he sat back up and slipped his own hands in under the hem of the dress. He felt the dips where thighs met hips, bones close to the skin above them, another dip down to the smooth abdomen. While his hands moved up the soft fabric followed, and when he looked down he saw a little triangle of black hair, a hint of blushing labia under it. His turn to get shivers.

Right in the middle between the top of that black patch of hair and the shadow of Loki's belly button was a dark little birthmark. Tony knew that one well; it was usually half hidden by Loki's treasure trail, but now it was all out in the open and exposed. He gave it a lick to tell it that it was still safe. The muscles under the sensitive skin moved in a tiny spasm when he did, and Tony just smiled and continued.

Five tiny marks were spread out over Loki's ribcage, one right in his solarplexus. Tony greeted them all in turn.

Then he finally really grabbed the bunched up dress and pulled it up. Loki lifted himself off the bed and Tony could remove it altogether. When he had tossed it away he couldn't stop himself giving Loki another kiss. Just like the birthmark on his abdomen, he looked like he needed to know he was safe without the cover to hide behind. And the softer smile Tony got when he pulled back made him think he'd been right.

”See? I got you all naked.”

”Took your sweet time.” The smile turned to a smirk.

”Sure was sweet”, Tony murmured and then sat back up so he could get an eyeful of Loki's now bare breasts. He couldn't keep back a groan at the sight of rounded flesh and pale, dusky pink nipples. Smaller and harder than usual, and more sensitive judging by the sounds Loki made when he got his mouth on them.

He also found a birthmark on the underside of the right breast and gave that some extra attention.

Then he raised himself on all fours, both arms and legs apart to give Loki room. ”Roll over, would you?”

An eyebrow arched. 

”Yeah, I could spend the rest of the night licking your nipples, for sure.” Tony grinned at him. ”But I know there's more to see.”

Loki didn't comment, just turned himself over on his front, and then moved a bit closer to the middle of the bed when Tony prodded him. Having his feet hanging off the edge wasn't the best thing, Tony figured.

Brushing the black hair away Tony found a birthmark by the point where neck turned to back and kissed it. He found three more leading him down Loki's long back. Then a fourth on the left cheek of his ass, one he also knew from before. He greeted this old friend with a long, slow lick and heard Loki moan again, that still perfect ass lifting to get closer to his mouth.

Tony got a hand in between the smooth thighs, spreading them. Then just looking was enough to tell him how wet Loki was. With a soft touch he placed his palm across the bottom of the pale cheeks and gently rubbed the pad of his thumb over the pink, swollen folds no longer hidden by skin. He heard a whine, which turned louder when he dipped the thumb into Loki, and then louder still when he took it back. Smiling, Tony just let him complain while he moved his hand up and then rubbed that slick, wet thumb against an opening he was a lot more familiar with by now, adding enough pressure to begin sliding inside the tight muscle.

He already had most of his thumb rubbing in and out before he placed a kiss on Loki's back. ”I'll be right back”, he murmured against the hot skin before he pulled away and got off the bed. 

In record time he was free of his own clothes and had found the lube in his bag. And then he was back in the same position he had left. With the help of the lubricant his thumb was soon replaced by two fingers, pushing in deep, spreading open. Loki was all the while muttering and moaning, apparently all lost in sensation, not really paying any attention to what was happening until Tony moved up to straddle the top of his thighs, his fingers holding the softer flesh of the blushing ass apart to make room for his cock to find its way in. As if that had been a wake-up call Loki pulled in a sharp breath and turned his head. He didn't tense, didn't protest, but there was a streak of confusion over his face, even while he was still looking wrecked by the way Tony was working his way in with slow rolls of his hips.

”What are you doing?” Loki's voice was so hoarse it for the first time almost sounded like his usual tone in the same situation.

”Should I be insulted that you can't tell?” But Tony grinned saying it; he knew what the question really meant.

And Loki knew that he knew, hence the eyeroll and exasperated whine of his name.

”What can I say?” Tony stopped moving and bent down to kiss Loki's back again. ”I have a huge soft spot for your ass. Or, you know, hard spot.” He pushed in a bit again, in a completely superfluous explanation of his last words.

Loki looked at him over his shoulder, eyelids low and heavy. ”You are a strange man, Tony Stark.”

”Really?” Tony grinned, pushed a hand in under Loki's hip and let his fingertips find the slick folds between his spread legs. ”Look who's talking.”

Dropping his head back on the bed Loki could only laugh, and when Tony let his hand linger, his caresses becoming more determined, searching out the swollen ridge of the clitoris, the laughter quickly turned breathless and then into panting moans. Loki's hands turned to fists in the bedspread when he arched his back, lifting his hips off it. Both making more room for Tony's hand to do it's thing, and impaling himself even more on Tony's cock in the same movement.

They groaned in unison.

”Oh, fuck, Loki! Do that again!”

So Loki pressed himself down onto Tony's fingers, letting him slide a few inches out, and then arched back up again. And then he was repeating it, over and over, fucking himself on Tony's cock while Tony's fingers kept a steady and steadily increasing pace.

Suddenly, almost explosively, Loki's back tensed, arched harder and uncontrolled, his head throwing back with a ragged cry. Tony felt his muscles clench and that, combined with the sight of Loki shuddering to wrecked pieces under him, was just too much, He fell down over his panting lover, biting at the pale skin over a shoulder blade.

When he could breathe, exist and think at the same time again, he slowly raised himself up on unsteady arms and looked down at Loki. Blinking, he noticed that the body under his was harder and leaner again, the shoulders wider, the thighs between his heavier and coarser, The face turning to his was still a work of pre raphaelite art, but now it was male again.

”I guess I couldn't keep looking like that after all”, Loki said through a tired smile. ”You broke my concentration.”

”I'm so sorry”, Tony murmured, kissing that back for the third time, ”but I'm not even slightly sorry.”


	14. Tricks and Thunderstorms II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sequel to [this chapter](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2280456/chapters/6051032). Three years later, Tony finally catches on...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (And for some reason this ended up being written in present tense. Don't even ask... I have no idea.)

When Tony is standing propped up against the wall outside the movie theater it's not Natasha who comes up to greet him. It's Loki. Looking slightly apologetic.

”She got a last minute hold up.” Loki shrugs. ”Sorry. I promised her I would let you know.”

With a sigh Tony lets his fingers run over the tickets already in his pocket. The kid had promised to set him up on a date with Nat and he wasn't gonna lie, he'd looked forward to spending some time at the back of a dark room with a smoking hot sixteen year old. Definitely. But now that plan was off.

”Yeah, well, not much to do about that, I guess.” He shrugs back, giving Loki a lopsided little smile. ”Too bad I already bought the tickets.”

”I could join you if you want?” Loki tilts his head towards the entrance. ”So they don't go to waste.”

Tony pulls the tickets out and shows him the title printed on them; the most brainless romantic comedy imaginable. ”You sure you want to do that?”

Loki reads the title and does a feigned little shudder of disgust. ”Damn, that's bad. But yes. I can't let you suffer through that alone. You'll need me to survive.”

The laughter that gets out of Tony takes with it any argument he could think of against the idea, because it's true. Not that he would have watched the thing alone anyway, but with Loki it might even be kind of fun. Since the first time he sort of accidentally ended up babysitting Thor's little brother he's done so many times, most of them alone, too, because Thor often took the chance to ditch them both and run off on dates. And he's spent quite a few nights over the last three years watching movies with the kid, so he knows the sharp wit and quick jokes and the way Loki can somehow see right through every single plot twist, even the really huge and impossible ones.

Yeah, this could work. He's already here anyway, no other plans for the night.

So he buys them some popcorn and they take their seats, right in the middle of the back row. They are almost alone; the movie has been running for a couple of weeks, was no huge success to begin with, and there are only three or four couples spead out in the rows further down.

The movie is just as bad as expected, and Loki goes all in with verbally tearing the thing to shreds, reducing Tony to choked snorts of laughter in the process. Man, the kid's _hilarious!_

Somewhere along the way comes the predictable, stilted sex scene, and that's so horrid that obviously not even Loki can find something to say. He just quietly shakes his head and turns to reach across Tony, grabbing a handful of the popcorn he's holding in his hand. Pulling back, one of the white puffs of corn falls out of Loki's hand. The kid shoves the rest of the snacks into his mouth and before Tony can protest it, his own mouth even opening to do so, Loki has his hand in his lap, searching for the one that got away. Fumblind around a bit, before ending up finding... something else.

In a movement almost as quick as the surprised blink of his eyes Tony's hand snatches up the kid's thin but surprisingly strong wrist. He stares down at the hand on his thigh, which is so pale he can make it out against the gray jeans even in the dark, and then he looks up at Loki's face. Blinking again, confused, because whoa, when did _that_ happen?

Not that he's ever really thought of Loki as innocent. Nah, the kid was probably born a tricksy little shit. But he's never thought of him as not-innocent in this particular way, and now it's sort of a shock to see the green eyes glowing in the flickering lights from the big screen, all innuendo with a hint of very, very mature calculation and oh holy shit... _That's_ when Tony figures it out. Because obviously he's turned slower than molasses in winter and can't see what's right under his nose.

”You set this whole thing up, didn't you?” He blurts it out before he can think it through.

Loki's eyes all at once go comically wide, his face blank and guileless. ”Well, of course I did.” His voice is just a hint too breathy to match the expression. ”You asked me to. I know you're getting on in years but I thought you'd remember that.”

Like Tony's ninety and not nineteen...

”No, you brat! I mean you set this up for yourself.” He shakes his head, incredulous. ”You never even asked Natasha, did you?”

Then the completely faked look of innocence shifts into a much more honest and goddamn self-satisfied little smirk. ”No.”

”Why?”

”For the same reason you wanted me to set it up with Nat to begin with, obviously.” Loki shrugs, like it really is obvious. ”I saw my chance and I took it.” Not even a hint of shame, just smugness all over.

And fuck if that's not completely sexy for some reason. But _no_ , Tony reins that thought in and shoves it aside as fast as he can because that's just not right.

Is it?

Then he can feel one of Loki's fingernails scrape against the coarse fabric of his jeans, way too high up on the inside of his thigh for comfort, and Tony has to do his best to suppress a shiver. But it's no use really, because he knows that Loki noticed it anyway. Of course he did, with his hand pressed against Tony's thigh muscle like that, heat bleeding through the pants. And then Tony has the sudden urge to move the wrist he's still holding on to and pull that hand _up_ instead of _away_ , but he makes himself stay competely still.

”You were looking for a chance?” Tony just has to ask because now he's curious on top of all of it. And a bit flattered, despite everything.

”'Course I was.” Loki's face turns a bit more serious, but the traces of a smile still quirks the corners of his mouth up. ”Have been for a long time.”

”How long?” He needs to know exactly _how_ slow he's been.

”Since you crawled into my bed during the thunderstorm”, Loki admits. Still completely without a hint of shame.

All right, he's been really damn slow. Three years of not knowing anything. But well, can you blame him? He's never really stopped thinking about Loki as the both insufferable and adorable little brat that's his best friend's baby brother. Just a tiny kid, nothing else. Only he's not. Not anymore. He's the same age Tony was that night with the thunderstorm and of course he remembers that.

And how innocent was Tony when _he_ was sixteen? 

Yeah, that's right...

”You were so nice to me, you know?” Loki leans a bit closer. ”You never made fun of me for being scared, like Thor would have. Just made it better.” His fingers move against Tony's thigh again. ”And you smelled so good. All I wanted to do was kiss your neck and see if you tasted that good too, but I didn't dare.”

Tony swallows, or tries too, his mouth is drier than the popcorn. He should say something, but he's got nothing. Not hearing that and remembering the way Loki's face had been right by the skin of his throat that night and overcome with the sudden wish that Loki had dared.

When Loki's hand moves now, Tony's grip on his wrist is lax enough to let him. ”I woke up in the middle of the night, after the storm, and had my leg pressed right into your hard-on.” The kid grins around the words. ”Of course, you were asleep, but I imagined you were dreaming about me.” Fingers find Tony in pretty much the same condition now. ”Were you?” The last question is breathless.

”Can't remember”, Tony gets out in a hoarse mumble, his fingers sqeezing Loki's arm again, but not to stop him anymore. ”Thinking about you now though, I'll give you that one.”

Loki lights up in a smile. ”You mean this...”, his fingers rub harder over the strained fabric of Tony's jeans, ”...is all because of me?”

Tony gasps for breath the way you do right before someone goes to push you underwater; quick and frantic and not sure if you'll ever get the chance for a second one. 

”Damn it, kid! You're a fucking _menace!_ ” The groan is enough to make Loki laugh. And somehow the only way Tony can think of to shut him up, is leaning over, his elbow on the armrest between their seats, and kiss him. So he does. And it works really well.

What the hell... His plan for the night was to spend it in the dark with a smoking hot sixteen year old after all, wasn't it? Maybe this is a case of ”be careful what you wish for”, but Tony can't make himself feel sorry. Not even a little.


	15. Give or Take

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (For some reason I jumped from having a thing for the boys as teenagers, to getting the worst case of "growing old and never changing" feels...)

"Well how about that?" Tony raised a hand to shield himself from the sunlight. Deep creases formed around his dark eyes as he squinted. "My tower's still standing."

Okay, so 'standing' might be a slight exaggeration when nearly half of it had crumbled away and the rest was more or less covered in vines and moss, trees even growing out of the top floors, but it was still there, at least. And nothing could completely snuff out the surge of pride and just plain emotion in his heart at the sight. Damn, so much time had passed, so many years, and it was still enough to make him a tiny bit tight in the throat. He'd never had any kids, so this was as close as he got. His baby. Even though he had abandoned the thing ages ago - literal ages - he'd never forgotten. Tony wasn't the forgetting kind.

"So it is." With careful steps over the uneven ground that had been created when roots and weeds had cracked and pushed through the New York City roads, Loki came to stand by his side. He gave a slight huff of laughter. "I like it better this way. Greener."

"'Course you do", Tony mumbled and turned his head, without taking down his shadowing hand from his brow. He used his other hand to search out Loki's and held it, thinning, slightly wrinked skin against his own.

The soft breeze caught Loki's salt-and-pepper hair and shifted it out of the way so he could meet Tony's eyes. "But it is still the place where we had our first real conversation."

Raising an eyebrow, Tony smirked at him. "We don't count Stuttgart?"

Loki's now even thinner upper lip curled. "We definitely do not."

"Still not over that one, huh?"

"You shot me!" Loki wasn't the forgetting kind either.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Well boo-frickin'-hoo! You didn't even bruise! And it's been four thousand years, give or take. Get over it, you diva!"

Loki didn't look to be getting over it any time soon, judging by the deep frown on his face and the way he was muttering something under his breath.

"Don't make me bring up the window thing...", Tony threatened with narrowing eyes.

"What?" Loki blinked and his still so bright, green eyes widened innocently. "I did catch you again, and teleported you down safely."

"Safely?" Tony's voice rose a bit, echoing off the remains of the buildings around them. "That's the way you remember it?"

"Well... Yes."

"You landed _on top of me_!" Now Tony took his hand down from over his eyes to jab it in his own chest, right at the center where it - centuries later - still was a surprise to feel bone instead of the hard surface of the arc reactor.

It was Loki's turn to roll his eyes at that. "Considering that's where you have wanted me ever since, it couldn't possibly have been as bad as you make it sound."

It was a good argument, so Tony opted to ignore it. "You cracked one of my ribs!"

"So... We are even, then?"

"No, we so are not!" With a snort, Tony shook his head. "Me tipping you over with my repulsors and you crushing me half to death does not make us even." The last part was kind of a huge exaggeration, but still.

Loki seemed to be about to give a reply to this, but then he stopped and burst out laughing, scaring a flock of jackdaws into the air with the unfamiliar sound in the silence that was now New York. He sqeezed Tony's hand a bit tighter when he had himself back under control. "One might think that we would have these things settled by now."

"Well, 'one' doesn't know us very well then, I'd say." Tony grinned at him. "We never settle anything, do we?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say 'never'", Loki murmured with a smile, and leaned into a movement Tony knew from thousands of years experience would end in a kiss. "We still might, one day."

But when Tony tilted his head back to welcome the kiss, still chuckling in the back of his throat, smiling under the soft lips on his, he knew they never would. And that was just the way they liked it.


	16. You Asked For It II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more I did an AU prompt meme on tumblr, and had so much fun it has to be some kinds of criminal. So I thought I'd post the results here, for those not following me over there.

**Ghost and living person.**

Tony really liked his tombstone. Despite the fact that he’d spent most of his life sure he’d never have one. Like most humans do. But now that he had one, at least it was pretty damn perfect. You see, it wasn’t a stone at all; it was metal. Actually it was a reshaped chest plate from one of his suits, and sunlight fell through the glass that had once protected his reactor.

In short: Perfect. 

So it wasn’t that strange that Tony’s favourite place to sit was perched on top of the thing, legs crossed under him in a way that would have been impossible on such a slim edge if things like gravity and balance had still been an issue. Because, well, his metal stone was the only thing in the world that was sort of still his. 

That old saying, you know? You can’t take it with you? It was true. And that didn’t even bother him. Because there was one thing you did take with you - love. Tony had been a bit surprised to find that he had more of that with him than he had expected, surprised by the warmth where his heart should have been when his friends came to visit. They never saw him there, of course, but he was happy to see them, every time. Until they grew older and stopped coming, leaving on their own journeys. Like Tony should have. But he was staying behind, lingering by his grave, because there was still one love left. 

One now bending down to place a red rose on front of his metal headstone. Not deep red, but the same bright colour as his old armour. Then Loki raised his head and looked straight into Tony’s eyes, where he was still sitting on top of the monument, smiling softly as he stood. 

"Been a while, darling", Tony said, returning the smile. "Where you been?"

"Traveling", Loki replied as he stepped up to lean with a hip against the headstone, close to Tony. "You missed me?"

"I always do."

"Good." Loki’s smile actually widened. "Because that is part of the reason for my travels." He reached a hand into the coat he was wearing and pulled out a small, red crystal, gleaming with odd, green highlights. "I found this. For you."

Tony frowned. “Pretty, Lokes, but you know I don’t really wear jewellery anymore.”

"You can wear this", Loki explained. "If you wish, you can hold on to this, as you do to this monument, and come with me." His head tilted. "I’m summoned back to Asgard. My brother feels the burden of the throne, and he would have me by his side. And I would have you by mine. If you wish to join me there."

Tony’s spectral eyes blinked. “‘Course I do!” He grinned away his surprise and the surge of emotion. “I’d get to hang out with you again. That’s pretty much all I’ve wanted since I ended up here.”

"You get to help me whisper in the royal ear, Tony." Loki answered the grin in kind. "And watch over me when I sleep. Like you used to."

"I always did enjoy doing that." Then Tony’s grin took on a new sharpness. "Do I get to watch you do other things too?"

Loki laughed. “Death did nothing to change you, love.”

"You thought it would?"

"Not even a little." Loki grew more serious, but the smile never completely left his lips. "Perhaps that was why I never truly mourned; because you never truly left."

"I never did." Tony had to blink again, wondering if ghosts could even cry. It felt like they could. "And I never will."

  


* * *

  


**Tourist and knowledgeable local.**

Tony had been waiting by the wide, sweeping stairs outside the palace for what felt like a long time when he finally heard Loki’s voice behind him. 

"Ready to leave?"

"Been ready for ages!" Tony complained, turning. "You sure took your- _holy shit_ you look weird!”

Chuckling, Loki stopped a few steps above Tony, letting him stare. 

That was the moment that Tony decided that it was a good thing that Loki wasn’t Thor’s brother by blood. The prince was dressed in some casual sort of asgardian fashion, with a dark red cape draping around him. And he was blond. It didn’t suit him. Neither of it. The red looked wrong, the blond hair and the matching eyebrows even more wrong. 

"Yeah, all right, that look will take some getting used to. Not gonna lie." Tony cleared his throat. "This isn’t your new thing, is it?"

Loki shook his head and took the last steps down to him, placing an arm around Tony’s shoulders so they could walk down from the palace side by side. “No, it’s not. This is a disguise, and nothing more. No need to worry.”

"Going into town undercover, are you?" He felt really at home tucked in under Loki’s arm like this, even if it was a more friendly than intimate touch. He felt safe and guided and liked it. 

"I am." Even if Loki was looking ahead of them Tony could hear the smile. "There are some places I want to show you that were a great part of my youth, without anyone even knowing I visited. They are better off not knowing now, either."

Tony glanced up at the sharp profile, only slightly softned by the light brows. “You’re showing me all your dirty secrets?”

"Not nearly all of them." Loki faced him with a glinting grin. "The day is far too short for that. But we have to start somewhere."

  


* * *

  


**Fake relationship.**

The woman was looking at Tony as if he was something edible and she was ready to take a bite right out of him. Usually that wouldn’t have been a problem, especially since she really wasn’t bad looking either, but he was completely not in the mood. The week had been stressful, he was tired and strained and just wanted to get drunk and get out of there. Alone.

He backed slightly away from the woman, bumping into the person behind him by the bar. And then an idea hit him. Probably a terrible one, but right now it felt better than handling the cannibal woman in front of him on his own.

"Sorry, I’m actually here with -" Tony turned, got a glimpse of long, black hair and started to say one thing, then got an eyeful of a sharp, pale face looking at him with an eyebrow raised in a question about what the hell he wanted. "- with this guy", he continued, loud enough for them both to hear him. "We’re on a date."

The stranger’s eyebrow traveled even further up his white forehead and Tony hit the man with his very best puppy-begging-for-treats look. _Please play along! Please, please, please! I’ll pay you anything! Just say yes!_ He hoped his thoughts could travel clearly enough through his wide, brown eyes for the guy to get the message.

The stranger took his green eyes from Tony then and looked at the woman still crowding him from behind. “We are”, the man said with a smooth voice that carried surprisingly well over the noise around them. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind?”

The cool gaze he leveled her with apparently made the woman give up, and Tony felt her leave. He was still looking up at the blackhaired guy.

"Oh, shit that was scary." Tony felt his heartrate slowly evening out again. "Thanks."

"No problem", the stranger reassured him with a faint smile. Then he glanced quickly across the room before looking at Tony again. "She is still watching us, however. I think we need to convince her further."

Before Tony had any real warning and any way to protest it, the guy was leaning in, long fingers curling around Tony’s neck, and lips were settling softly against his. It was pretty chaste and all, but still warm and lingering. When the man pulled away, slowly, Tony blinked up at his amused face. But the stranger was looking across the room again.

"Gone. I think she gave up." He grinned at Tony. "We must have convinced her."

"Not surprised", Tony muttered. "That very nearly convinced me."

The man laughed. “You’re welcome.”

Tony shook himself and tried to relax again. Somehow his heartrate had jumped right back up… “I think I owe you a drink now.”

"I won’t say no to that."

All at once the night seemed less about getting drunk and going to sleep as fast as possible.

  


* * *

  


**Meeting at a support group.**

"First time?" Loki wrapped his long, thin fingers around his paper cup, feeling the heat from his tea bleed through it, before glancing up at the unfamiliar, bearded face again. "Can’t remember seeing you here before. Tony, was it?"

The newcomer nodded as he poured coffee in his own cup, and then fell in by Loki’s side as they moved away from the table to let others take their place. “Yeah, first”, he said, moving his cup from one hand to the other to not burn himself. “Maybe last, too”, he added with a wince.

Loki took a break from blowing ripples over the surface of his hot beverage to give the man a lopsided, mirthless smile. “Oh, I know that feeling, trust me.” He continued trying to cool his tea for a bit, thinking. “Why are you here, if I might ask?”

"Good fucking question." Tony took a sip of his coffee and pulled a disgusted face. "I… Well, I built something like fifty heavily armed and armoured suits. Run by my AI. Some people got nervous. Started thinking I was… Dunno. Up to something." He paused for another sip of disappointing coffee. "Words like ‘going mad with power’ were thrown around." The man made half of the air quotes with his free hand, rolling his large, brown eyes. 

"Completely uncalled for, of course?" Raising his eyebrows Loki took a sip from his cup, burning the tip of his tongue slightly. Too soon. 

"Of course!" Tony scratched his head, making his hair stand on end. "You? Why are you here?"

"Well, I shouldn’t be, really." He frowned into the tea. "My brother should. He is obviously in no state to rule, not yet, but I make one little attempt to delay his coronation - one! - and suddenly I’m ‘unreliable’ and ‘twisted with envy’ and all sorts of folly and my father sent me here. Like I wanted that stupid, ugly chair anyway. He can keep it. I just wanted -" Loki glanced up and saw the man’s blank face, cutting himself off. "And you’re not even slightly interested."

"Nope." Tony shrugged in a way that might have been meant to be apologetic but was nowhere near it. "But I doubt you’re interested om why I’m here either. Really."

Loki blinked. “Something about… ships?”

"Suits. Close."

"Well then." After eyeing the large clock on the wall Loki turned a slow smile at Tony. "We have another fortyfive minutes left to suffer through here. I suggest going somewhere with better coffee afterward, and see if we can find something we both are interested in."

Tony looked blank again, but just for a moment. Then a smile pulled at his lips as well. “Yeah, we should. And I don’t even think finding something will be that difficult.”

  


* * *

  


**Falling in love with their best friends partner.**

Loki wasn’t sure if it was the feelings he had for Tony Stark that bothered him most, or the fact that Tony was already spoken for by Pepper - who just happened to be Loki’s best friend.

Well, no, that was a lie. He was sure. It was the feelings. They were the worst part, without a doubt. Even more so since Loki wasn’t supposed to even have feelings to begin with. At least, that was the image he did his best to present to the world at large and the people at school in particular. He was made up of equal parts exasperated sighs and eyerolls, contemptuous sneers and uninterested shrugs. What he was after was giving others the impression that even if they placed an ear to his sternum there would be nothing but silence and stillness in there.

Heartless.

The fact that Pepper was still his friend should give away the truth to anyone who cared to think twice about it, of course. If he had been a complete asshole, if the bitchface he gave the world had really been all there was to him, she wouldn’t have stayed. Because she wasn’t the kind of girl to take any sort of shit from anyone, and Loki respected that.

So why did it have to be her? Why did she have to be the one to catch the uncatchable Tony Stark?

As long as the guy had been sort of a free radical at school, bounching aimlessly between factions and groups as he pleased, Loki could have imagined that he had just as much a chance as anyone else. Or, let’s face it, a better chance than most. He owned mirrors. He knew what he looked like.

Now he had no chance at all, because even if he would never have hesitated to steal the guy from anyone else, he couldn’t touch him now. Literally couldn’t. If he put as much as a fingertip on Tony he would probably break down and cry, and then that would be his image gone to shit, forever and ever, amen.

Heartless. That’s what he wished he was, now more than ever.

And if he presented an even colder face in public, if he snapped a bit sharper at anyone who spoke to him, if he kept everyone at arm’s length even more than before, no-one would ever know it was becuse Loki did in fact have a heart, not because he lacked one…

  


* * *

  


**Two miserable people meeting at a wedding.**

Loki had really been touched when Pepper had announced that she wasn’t bothering with bridesmaids, and having a best man instead - him. To be honest, though, he’d been planning on not going to the wedding at all. But how could he say no to this? Of course, he couldn’t.

So here he still was. It was all over and done with. The woman who meant most to him in the world had married the man he was starting to believe would be the one, great love of his life. Years had passed when any sort of crush or infatuation or sad little love story would have gone away a long time ago. It never had. It hurt just as much today as it had the first day he knew what he felt.

Well, no, more today.

Loki was sitting on a lawn chair at the bottom of the green garden at Pepper’s parents’ place, watching the lights and movements of the party at the house, drinking straight out of a bottle of vodka he had stolen from the bar. He should be drunk off his ass, but it felt like he was drinking water. Nothing took the sharp edge off. He was vaguely starting to consider crying, though. That could be a sign at least the alcohol had some effect. But just when he was about to give it a try - what the hell, why not? - he heard someone come walking over the grass in the gathering dusk. So he blinked back tears and focused his eyes, turning his head…

"Well, shit." Tony might as well have reached inside Loki’s head and picked the words from there when he spoke. He seemed unsteady on his feet, and he was holding a mostly empty bottle as well, but one with some amber liquid. "I didn’t think anyone would be down here. Sorry, I’ll just -" He started slowly turning to leave.

"Wait!" It came out louder than intended, and Loki winced but hurried to make his face smooth again before Tony turned back once more. "I mean, it’s okay. You can join me. If you want. Or I can leave. If not." He shut his rambling off with a swallow of vodka.

Tony stared at him for a while, then he nodded and walked up to Loki’s chair, and promptly sat down on it. Right next to Loki, their thighs pressed together in the seat. That wasn’t really what Loki had meant by ‘join me’, considering there was an identical chair right next to his, but then he felt the warmth from Tony’s body through their clothes and couldn’t protest it.

The crying suddenly seemed more like something inevitable rather than an option, though. He swallowed down some more of the liquour and blinked again.

Tense as he was, even with the drinking, Loki at first didn’t notice he wasn’t the only one. Tony felt rigid by his side, his hand looked to be gripping the bottle of scotch far too hard, and when Loki glanced over the muscles of his jaw were flexing. Frowning, Loki started wondering what was actually going on here. He had assumed Tony had just been happily drunk, catching some fresh air, but this didn’t look happy. In any way.

"Tony?" He murmured the name, voice not really clear. "What’s the matter?"

Wide, brown eyes turned on him then, and Loki could have sworn they were just as liquid as his own felt. “Have you ever made such a huge fucking mistake you have no idea how to make things even a little right again?”

Loki could just stare. Why would a man sit around saying things like that on his wedding night? When he finally found enough control of his face to open his mouth, to at least say something, even if it was just something brilliantly intelligent like ‘what?’, he still couldn’t speak. Because the next moment his lips were covered by Tony’s, hot and wet and tasting of the scotch he had just taken a swallow from. And between the shock and his own drinking that night, maybe he kissed back. Just a tiny little bit. Before Tony snatched his face back as suddenly as he had offered it.

Now they both stared.

"Yes", Loki whispered. "Yes, I think I have."


	17. Weddings and Exes

"Since when do you smoke?"

The voice behind him made Tony flinch and twist around on the low stone wall where he was sitting. He hadn't even heard anyone come out through the back door. But he recognized the voice, of course. Still. And when he saw the wavy black hair and the pale frown, he felt like he had suddenly been moved five years back in time. Fan-fucking-tastic. Not even the expression on Loki's face had changed since they saw each other last.

"I don't", he muttered around the filter before taking the cigarette from his lips, and turning back to face the lawn behind the hotel where the wedding reception was held.

"Really?" Loki's long, slow steps came closer over the tiles behind him, and then Tony could see him out of the corner of his eye as he walked down the two steps onto the grass, coming closer still. "Could have fooled me."

"Would be a first, then." Tony looked down as he spoke through the last lungful of smoke and then dropped the cigarette on the ground, killing it with the toe of his dress shoe. "I never did do well trying to fool you." He swallowed a sigh, wishing his glass of scotch hadn't been standing empty next to him on the stones; he would have needed something to wash it down with. "But I actually don't smoke. I mean, regularly. Making an exception for tonight. Guess my nerves needed it."

He made himself stop talking there.

Loki sat down on the wall. Not very close, but still inside the sphere made for people who weren't complete strangers. Even though maybe Loki could be considered one of those now. If he had ever been anything else. Yeah, they had been as intimate as can be once. Physically, at least, but the more he'd thought about it over the years the more Tony had been convinced he'd never known Loki at all. Not really.

"I didn't see you at the ceremony." Tony nearly bit his tongue on the last word. Wasn't he supposed to stop talking?

"You looked?" Damn, Loki sounded way too smug.

"No." He kept his face as neutral as he could manage when he looked over at Loki's smirk. "Just figured you should be at your brother's wedding, that's all."

The pale face turned serious. "I was supposed to be." He shrugged. "My flight was delayed."

Tony just nodded and looked out over the lawn again. Nothing much to add to that, was there? Just Loki failing to show up where he had promised to. Nothing had changed.

"You?" There was something slightly strained in Loki's voice suddenly. "Are you here with _him_?"

It honestly took Tony a moment to understand who Loki was talking about, then he made a little huff of laughter. "What, Steve?" He glanced over at Loki long enough to see him give a curt nod, then he shook his head and faced the slope of grass again. "No, that was just... I didn't... No. That was never a thing, really. Rebound, I guess." He picked up the glass, wishing more than ever that it hadn't been empty, and rolled it in his hands. "Maybe he was just the least _you_ I could find."

"Trying to forget?"

"Yeah." No use denying that. "Not like you had to do that, though, right? You were over me before we even broke up, obviously."

There was a long silence then, tense and wary. Tony spent it wondering how come he could actually taste the bitterness of those last words, even through the nicotine, tar and scotch.

"Huh. Well, how about that", he muttred at last, when it was obvious that Loki wouldn't speak. "I actually thought I was over that bit. Guess I was wrong."

He heard a dry little sigh from Loki. "Tony, you were -"

"No, you know what?" Tony stood from the wall with stiff movements and turned to face Loki. Now he was holding the glass so hard he was a bit afraid he might break it and cut his fingers. "I really, really don't want to know what I was. Or wasn't. Or did. Or didn't. All right?" He knew he was nearly glaring at Loki's blank face, but couldn't stop. "It's been years. It doesn't even matter anymore. And it clearly didn't matter then either. At least not enough. So just leave it."

And Loki actually did leave it. Wow. Seemed some things had changed after all.

Tony looked down at the glass in his hand and then turned to walk back toward the door. He was ready to go inside and find the bar again. And he was nearly there when Loki spoke up.

"I did love you, you know." Loki sounded surprised by his own words as they were still coming out of him.

Tony stopped, turned on his heel and just stared at him a moment. Loki still looked blank, but his eyes were wider. Then Tony slowly shook his head. "No", he said, not sure it was his own voice he heard, "I didn't know." He saw Loki's mouth start to open, but Tony didn't want to hear whatever might be coming out of it, so he turned to the door again, and walked into the hotel.

Weddings and exes. His two least favourite things, both on the same day.

Fuck, did he need a drink.


	18. ”He tastes like you, only sweeter”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Because I discovered ["Thnks fr th mmrs"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iW6wx7CEDU) yesterday and things happened.)

”He tastes like you, only sweeter.”

Tony wasn't even sure he'd really meant the words, but now they were out of his mouth anyway and there was no way to put them back in.

Perhaps it was the shock. He could blame that in part, at least. It had been months since he'd seen Loki at all, and then there he was, suddenly, right up close and personal that way he always was. Getting into Tony's personal space and just breathing and existing where he shouldn't be. He might as well have punched Tony in the face; that would have had the same painful and jarring effect. He had wanted to scream and shove him away. Maybe punch right back. Literally. But they had been surrounded by people then, in the middle of the bar, so that wasn't really an option. Now they weren't, now they were all alone back in Tony's apartment (And why was that even? Why were they here?) and he didn't have to hold back anymore.

Those words had been his punch.

When Loki turned, his face half a snarl and half a smirk in that way only he could manage, Tony knew he was in trouble.

”Oh, Tony.” The voice was surprisingly smooth, coming from a face looking like that. ”Trust you to be _stupid_ enough to actually believe that you want something sweet.”

And damn him for knowing that. Damn him for taking Tony's taunt and just turning it right back in his face. Beacause of course he didn't want something sweet! He wanted something salty, savoury and spicy. He wanted something bright and acidic. Tart and bitter and sharp enough to curl his tongue.

”Get out.” Short and harsh and as cold as he could make it.

Before he knew how, Loki was back in his personal space again, way too close for comfort, green eyes swallowing him whole. And then lips on his, savoury ones. A salty and spicy tongue against his palate. 

And it was fucking bitter too. Enough to curl his tongue. But that taste was all his own. Because he was being so damn _stupid_.


	19. Midvinterblot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a prompt in another writing meme - Morning sex...
> 
> (Midvinterblot = midwinter sacrifice.)

”That felt like the longest night ever”, Anthony mumbled, arching just slightly up into Loki's touch.

The man had been kept on the edge for so long he had gone soft again, tissues giving up under the strain, and still the rest of his body wouldn't quite stop begging for more. But to be fair, Loki had put himself in pretty much the same state.

”It was”, he said now, tracing gentle fingertips over Tony's hipbone. ”This night was midwinter night. The longest of the year, when the sun is so far away from this realm it seems hesitant to ever return.”

Tony blinked up at him. ”Oh... Is that why...?” He never finished the question, and didn't have to.

Loki nodded softly while he ran his eyes over the body under his.

The knife had been so sharp Anthony had barely felt the cuts; except the one down the side of his ribs. That one had made him cry out in the loveliest way. But he had bled. Smeared them both, and the stains in the sheets would never, ever come out. Especially the nick on the inside of his forearm, making red runnels pool in the crease of his elbow.

Loki had not been able to keep away from that. He had licked at it, lapped it up, swallowed it down. Tasted it. Rich and warm and salt and copper and iron. Yes, how fitting... And then kissed Stark with his own blood still all over Loki's lips and tongue.

”In ancient times, when I was young and your ancestors not even born, men would make offerings of blood and flesh on this night, to appease the gods, and beg for the sun to come back. Not leave them lost in the darkness.” Loki slowly traced the bloody lines of skin and muscle back up to Anthony's face. ”Sheep, cattle, horses even, or other men. If the year had been harsh, with famine. Or war.”

Their eyes locked, and they both thought the same thing. There had been war this year, because Loki had brought it.

”Would you let me sacrifice you? On this rumpled altar of ours?” Loki leaned forward into the question, his hand still holding the wickedly sharp dagger, even though the hand with it was now resting against his own thigh.

Anthony studied his face a moment. His hands were resting above his head, palms up, but not tied down. Had never been, once, this long night. No matter what Loki had done, he had stayed still, and let him.

”Would you want to?” The man's voice was hoarse but steady.

And Loki knew that this was not an agreement. This was not Tony saying that his answer would be yes if Loki's was; he was genuinely curious. So Loki genuinely thought about it. Then he smiled, and shook his head.

”No, I would not.” He raised the hand holding the blade, and vanished it with a flick of his wrist. ”If I bled you dry now, that would be the end of it. No, I would rather take some of you at a time. Then I can do this again.” He leaned in and licked along one of the shallow cuts on Anthony's chest, heard him hiss with the sting of hot saliva. ”And again.” He licked another. ”And again.” He licked the one across the man's ribs, harder, and made him moan.

”Oh, yes, please...” Stark was so breathless he just barely got the words out.

Then Loki sat up straight on his knees again, turned his head and looked out the wide window showing the city outside. Across the far off horizon, he could see a faint band of rose and gold lighting up the sky. He smiled wider, and looked down at the man on the bed again.

”And it seems this offering was enough to bring the sun back, anyway.”

Anthony gave a choked little chuckle. ”That's great.”

Loki glanced down to where their hips were close, and noticed that the man had hardened. Again. That was impressive enough to earn a reward.

”But perhaps we need to spill something else, to make the sun rise all the way up?” He closed his fingers around the hot length, stained with drying blood, just like the rest of the man, and made him arch up harder, gasping.

It took mere seconds, and then Anthony did spill, over his own hip and abdomen. And Loki tasted and swallowed down this, too. Because this offering was for him as well, after all. Him, and the sun, and both were appeased.


	20. Putting us both back together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Because apparently I needed to make myself cry by writing a sort of Frankenstein AU thing... I don't even know anymore.)

They tried to tell Tony this was insane, and he didn't listen. 

They tried to tell him it was impossible, and he just ignored them until they went away.

They tried to stop him. But only once. His memories of that were blurry, but he remembered screaming at them until his throat was bleeding and fighting them with everything he had. When he clamped his jaws around Steve's forearm and bit down hard enough to acually get Captain America to scream as well, that was when they gave up. At last. And left him to it.

Not a minute too soon. He had no fucking time to spare.

Who they hell did they think they were talking to, anyway? Tony Stark had mended his own broken heart and built himself a suit of armour in a dusty desert cave. That hadn't been sane, or strictly speaking possible, but if he had managed that, then he sure could manage this, in his own lab with every resource he had at his disposal.

Because this had happened at least in part because of him and he had to fix it. His world was wrong and he had to make it right.

Because Loki had placed himself between Tony and Loki's own worst nightmares. He'd placed himself between Tony and Thanos, and then turned himself into the suicide bomb to end all suicide bombs. And the last thing Tony remembered could not be the look of ”I love you”/”I'm sorry” that Loki had given him just before he had torn himself to pieces. To save Tony. To save _everything_.

It had taken so long to collect all of him again. But back then they had actually helped Tony do it. Then, when they thought he was gathering Loki up to bury him. Because apparently putting the remains of Loki in a wooden box and leaving him to rot in the ground was the _sane_ thing to do...

All of Loki was here now, though. Broken bones put together with the strongest metal alloys Tony could make. Thousands and thousands of stitches making him whole again, even if his skin around the sutures was a ghostly shade of gray instead of the usual glow-from-within alabaster Tony knew. It didn't matter. 

Loki's torso had been surprisingly intact, as if the unimaginable shock wave of pure power that had come from him had started there, and been content to just rip his limbs off. The torn skin and muscle on the side of his neck had shown that his head nearly had gone the same way, but luckily it hadn't. Tony wasn't sure even Loki could have come back after that kind of nerve damage.

Inside that strangely untouched ribcage, though, there had been the only part of Loki that Tony couldn't put back together. His heart had been turned to shreds, almost dissolved, and no-one had to tell Tony why. No-one had to explain to him that this was where all that power had come from. That Loki had used up everything he had, everything he was, to do this to himself, and held nothing back.

Tony looked down at the arc reactor resting in his hands. It was so like his own, and also so very different. Instead of blue, it glowed green. Instead of a simple, metal cylinder it was encased in a metal heart, the same shape and size Loki's had once had. Not hesitating any further, Tony gently placed it in the open ribcage in front of him, secured it, and then as swiftly as he could closed it all back up. Using more metal to hold the cracked open sternum together. Using staples to put the skin in place. It wasn't as neat as the stitches, but he didn't have time. If this worked, he could fix that part later. If it didn't... Well, he would still fix it. Because he would never bury Loki looking anything but as perfect as he could make him.

Even through skin, muscles and bone Tony could make out a faint hint of green light just to the side of Loki's sternum now. The reactor was working in there, at least.

”All right, Jarvis. It's all done. Do it.”

”Yes, sir.” The AI didn't sound happy about it, but at least he wasn't protesting or arguing. He just did what Tony asked.

Then the hint of light inside Loki turned to a glow. And then stronger, green radiating out of his chest, then bright enough to surround his entire body. So sharp Tony couldn't look right at it, and had to take a step back until it faded and died back down.

Tony stepped forward again and then stood and stared at the still, stitched up remains on the table. He stared for what felt like an eternity. 

Nothing.

”Damn it, Loki.” Tony turned his back, slowly sank down on the floor by the table, elbows on his drawn up knees and his face in his shaking hands. ”Damn it. Don't do this to me.”

He hadn't mourned. Not before. He'd refused to, because he was so sure he could fix it. Make it right again. Undo it. But he'd failed.

It felt like the shrapnel was crawling into his own heart now, tearing it apart, turning it to a bleeding, shapeless heap of agony and nothing, nothing, nothing.

Tony had no idea how long he had sat there, falling to pieces, when he felt something touch his hair. At first he didn't notice, and when he did he was sure it was a dream. It had to be, because it felt like fingers. Fingers running through the dirty, tangled lumps of hair he hadn't washed since his world went wrong. They twisted into it, tugged a bit. Just enough to sting. And it was such a familiar, wordless way of telling him to ”look at me” that he obeyed even before he was convinced it was really happening.

He lifted his head, turned it, and saw a face the perfect shade of glow-from-within alabaster turned around to look at him over the edge of the metal table. The eyes were shining the same shade of green as the arc reactor in Loki's chest.

”Loki.” The name was a sore, burning, choking thing in Tony's torn throat, but he got it out.

At first there was no reaction. Then the pale lips shaped a faint smile. ”Anthony.” His voice was so much the same it was painful. ”You found me.”

”Always.”


	21. You Asked For It III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More of the lovely writing meme from tumblr! So much fun doing these! Thanks to everyone who played along! :D

**Pet names (endearments)**

"Sweetcheeks?"

"Would you please stop?"

"Sugartop?"

"Tony!" Loki spun around to glare down at him. "What on earth gave you the impression I would want you to call me… any of that?"

"Dunno, honeybuns." Tony gave him an innocent smile. "You just look like that type."

"Looks are deceiving, then, because I’m definitely not that type."

"Lovemuffin?"

"I’ll kill you."

"No you won’t, babycakes."

"I swear to god, Tony!"

"All right, all right." Tony turned serious and for a moment Loki actually thought he’d given up. "Candylips?"

"I’m leaving." Throwing his hands up Loki turned and started walking away along the street. "I don’t even like desserts, and you know that!"

"Hold on a minute!" Tony came after him with long strides, almost running. "Is that the problem? You want me to call you something more… savoury?"

Rolling his eyes Loki just kept walking. Tony would find something to call him no matter what he said, he could tell. All he could do was hope it wouldn’t be something completely stupid.

* * *

**Learning what the other person likes sexually**

"Whatcha doin’?" Tony yawned and stretched a bit. He was flat on his back in bed, Loki curled up half beside him, half around him and half on top of him. Okay, maybe that was one half too many, but that’s what it felt like. His black, tousled head was on Tony’s arm, close to his shoulder, which put his face right by… Tony blinked and suddenly felt really awake. "Are you…? Are you seriously smelling my armpit right now?"

Loki froze, but just for a second. Then his nose was brushing against the hairs under Tony’s arm again. “Maybe.” He was murmuring, but it didn’t really sound like he was embarrassed by this admission. 

"It tickles." Squirming a bit, Tony wrinkled his own nose. "And it’s been… What? Two days since I last showered?"

"I know." The words were followed by a pleased little sigh, where Loki pulled in more of his scent. "It’s just the way I like it best. The perfume of all those things you use is mostly gone, and it’s nearly all you again."

Now Loki was very close to having his whole face pressed into Tony’s armpit, and Tony suddenly became aware of the insistent hard-on burning against the outside of his leg. 

Smiling, he pushed a bit closer to Loki, lifting his other hand to run it into the long, black tangles. “You adorable pervert”, he mumbled, and felt the heat of Loki’s soft laughter against his skin. “Wouldn’t be surprised if you’d want to lick it, too.”

Loki slowly raised his head, Tony’s hand still in his hair, eyes a bit wide. “You’d let me?”

Tony grinned. “Give it a try. Worst case scenario? It tickles so much I hit you over the head to make you stop.”

"A risk I’m willing to take."

Then Loki was burying his head under Tony’s arm again, and his wet tongue ran over sensitive skin and wiry hair. Strangely enough, it didn’t tickle at all.

* * *

**Rubbing noses + Keeping the other person warm**

"What can I do?" Tony took one more slow step closer to the huddled up form in the shadowy corner of the small bedroom. Even in the faint light he could see that the arms wrapped around Loki’s drawn up legs and bent down head were blue.

"Stay away." The muffled voice was a raspy mess, shaky and choked.

"Sorry, not an option." Frowning, Tony squatted down next to Loki and carefully leaned in, reaching out, until he had to put one knee on the floor to keep his balance. He felt a chill in the air when his hand got closer, and Loki must have felt the warmth from him, because before he had touched his arm, Loki hissed, curled up harder, pressing into the corner.

"Do not touch me!" His tone nearly cracked on the words.

Tony stopped, but didn’t pull very far back. He had heard fear more than anything in Loki’s voice, and he was sure it wasn’t actually about Loki not wanting to be touched - he wanted to protect Tony from doing so. Well then… Tony glanced over at the bed in the other end of the room, got to his feet and took one step back.

The noise Loki made then was something made up of equal parts relief and pain, a shivering moan of longing and fear.

It made Tony’s heart ache. So he hurried over to the bed, picked up the blanket he’d seen, and walked back. Then he shook the blanket out, sank down on his knees again, and as well as he could wrapped the thick, fluffy thing around the tense, shuddering man in the corner, his arms coming to rest around pulled in shoulders and long shins.

With a startled gasp, Loki raised his head and fixed ruby red eyes on Tony’s face. “Don’t -“, he started, noticed the blanket between them, and then blinked at him again. “I am too cold.” It could have been an explanation, but it sounded more like a sorrowful confession.

"Then I’ll get you warm." Tony looked right back into those wide, alien eyes and stayed where he was.

For what felt like a long time, Loki remained tense and hard and shivering under his touch through the blanket. Then what might have been a sob racked him, a tiny whimper escaped him, and he slowly softened, turned, and stopped pressing into the corner. Instead leaning into Tony’s chest, his head carefully coming to rest on his shoulder.

"That’s it", Tony murmured, getting the blanket around Loki’s back and pulling him closer still. A hand rubbing soothing, warming circles over his ribs.

After a few minutes Loki raised his head from Tony’s shoulder, and they were face to face. Neither of them spoke.

Then Tony leaned in, closer, into the chill radiating from that blue, lined, marked face, and let the tip of his nose rub against Loki’s. It was cold, sure it was, but not in any way painful. More like Loki had spent a cold, windy day outside and the chill had settled in his skin. So he rubbed a bit harder, and felt a sigh against his lips that tasted like snow.

"You will never get me warm enough, Anthony." It was a low, unsteady whisper.

Tony pressed his hands harder against Loki through the blanket, and smiled. “Challenge accepted.”

* * *

**First huge fight + Marriage proposal + Engagement sex**

”You don’t even care, do you?” Loki’s voice wasn’t loud but it was somehow harsh anyway, a bit ragged and torn at the edges. His arms were folded across his chest – although ‘folded’ made it sound a lot more soft than the way he was pressing his arms into his ribs so hard he was almost trembling.

Tony couldn’t believe it, but they were actually fighting, for the first time ever. Or, well, at least the first time ever since they had stopped fighting over things like conquering/saving the world. Even more, he couldn’t believe they were fighting over this…

He had come up from the workshop, too tired to stand, got his pants off and flopped down on the bed. Asleep before his head hit the pillow, probably. Then – how much later he had no idea – he’d woken up when someone had wrenched him up from the bed. It hadn’t been difficult to guess who that someone was, going by the strength of the fists gripping the front of his t-shirt, and at first Tony had thought it was some sort of rough foreplay (hey, he was game!). But then, he had seen the stormcloud that was Loki’s face.

It had taken a while to understand what the problem was. He still really didn’t, to be honest.

”I just…” Tony raked his hands back through his hair. ”I guess I just didn’t understand that you cared. Not about something like this. It’s not that important to me, all right? I don’t care which side of the bed I sleep on! I didn’t think you would care either.” He looked at Loki’s turned away face and could still see how tense he was, just by the set of his jaw and the narrowing of his eyes. ”Obviously you do, though, so I’ll stick to the other side from now on, okay?”

No response.

”What? Am I getting the silent treatment now?” Tony hadn’t really been angry before now, more confused and frustrated, but now he was starting to lose his temper. ”Fuck, Loki! It’s just the bed! I’ve been sharing it with you long enough to -”

”That’s the point!” With a startlingly fast movement Loki flashed around and glared at him. ”You have shared it with me! But it’s still yours. Everything here is yours!” The long arms whipped free so he could point into his own chest with a sharp fingertip. ”I have nothing! The least you could do is leave me the place where I rest! Or is that too much to ask?”

Oh. Tony got it now. He should have from the start. Loki didn’t give a shit which side of the bed he was sleeping on. Not really. This was something else entirely. It might look like anger and it sure had fooled Tony to begin with, but the act was cracking up and slowly crumbling and he was starting to see what was hiding behind it. The beginnings of Tony’s own anger ran off him at once, and he felt his shoulders slump down when he relaxed. Now he understood. Maybe he even knew what to do.

”No, it’s not.” He took a couple of slow steps up to Loki, who was still tense, breathing harder than usual, and staring at him. Gently, he slid his hands around the other man’s waist, feeling the coiled muscles under his fingers. ”You shouldn’t even have to ask. Nothing here is really just mine anymore, anyway. Well, except for the suits, I guess, but considering I’m building you your own, even that’s up for discussion.” Tony felt the back under his soothing, rubbing palms slowly relax, but Loki’s face was still dark. He gave the wary, green eyes a smile. ”Would you feel better if we made it official? That half of it is yours?”

The frown he got for that wasn’t soft, not really, but at least it was less dark and more bewildered.

”I’m already sort of planning on spending the rest of my life with you. You alone.” Smiling still, Tony let his hands slide down over the curve of Loki’s lower back, to cup his ass in a pretty-damn-possessive sort of way. ”And I would be disappointed if you didn’t plan on spendin at least the rest of my life with me. Me alone.”

Slowly, by small degrees, the frown melted off Loki’s face and left him wide-eyed and slack-jawed in a way Tony had very, very rarely seen before. Shocking Loki wasn’t easy, after all. Then Loki blinked, and focused enough to form words, at least somewhat. It was hoarse and mumbled, still. ”Are you… asking me to… marry you?”

”I sure as hell am.” Tony let the smile slip, turned all serious, but the warmth of the smile was still in his voice. ”Are you saying yes?”

The arms that had been stiff by Loki’s sides were suddenly moving up, his hands burying themselves in Tony’s hair. A cool mouth was completely kissing the breath out of Tony’s lungs before he had the time to understand what was happening. And the laughter Loki pressed into his cheek moments after sounded as if he was just as breathless himself. ”Yes, I am.”

”That’s great.” Tony squeezed his ass a bit harder, and placed a kiss on the corner of Loki’s smile. ”Does that mean I can go back to sleep now? I was sort of in the middle of something there.”

”Of course”, Loki purred. Then he turned Tony around, moved them both over to the bed and just threw Tony on it. Across it. So he covered both their sides of the mattress.

Tony got up on his elbows in time to look over his shoulder and see Loki slide into bed over him, straddling his bare thighs and slipping smooth hands in under his t-shirt.

”You go right back to sleep.” Loki leaned forward to kiss the soft spot behind his ear, lick down his neck and press teeth into the muscle of his shoulder. All while he rolled his hip forward and rubbed against Tony’s backside in a rythm that was very, very difficult to misinterpret. ”I promise not to disturb you. Much.” Then one of his hands, caressing down the side of Tony’s ribs, moved in under him and pinched a nipple. Hard.

With a groan that was just a tiny bit exasperation and a lot of growing excitement, Tony dropped his head back onto the covers. ”Loki, I love you, but you suck at not disturbing me.”

He really did. Suck, that is. Literally. It was completely worth losing sleep over.


	22. Subliminal love (for the ones you hate)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki seems to have found a new way to mess with the Avengers, and by the time Tony figures it all out it's way too late...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (The title is shamelssly stolen from the song [Choice Millionaire](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6t6A8ePErE) by Poets of the Fall. Which is amazing. Just so you know...)

No-one had ever seen or heard Thor throw up before. It was one of those things you didn't think could even happen. So when Tony and Clint happened to be close enough to Thor's suite that morning to hear the retching and choking and coughing, they stopped sipping their steaming cups of coffee and just stared at the door next to them until a very pale and red-eyed Thor stepped out, stopping with a start when he almost walked into them.

"So, morning sickness, huh?" Clint tried a grin.

It was completely pointless, though. Thor didn't even get offended by the joke. Or maybe he didn't get it to begin with? In any case, he just shook his head. "I would rather not talk about it." Then he looked like he was about to heave again, swallowing audibly, before he turned and almost stumbled past them, towards the kitchen area.

Eyebrows raised in identical expressions of surprise, Tony and Clint faced each other again. Thor unwilling to talk about something? That was pretty much unheard of. You might think the guy didn't know what a secret even was. He was so wide open he barely had walls at all.

"I wonder what that was about", Tony said, glancing at Thor who was pouring coffee and wiping a layer of cold sweat off his forehead.

"You and me both." Clind sounded just a confused as Tony felt.

They walked over to the kitchen, trying to ask more questions. For each one Thor just turned a shade paler and shook his head harder, until he at last mumbled something about a very, _very_ bad dream. Which didn't make things any easier to understand. What sort of bad dream would make this guy physically sick? But they didn't get anything else out of Thor then, so when Tony had finished his coffee he headed to the workshop. Catching one last glimpse of the asgardian, now in his sweats and obviously going to the gym, with a look on his still pale face that clearly said he would be breaking something in his efforts to work off the effects of whatever had happened in his head that night.

Tony didn't know if it was more amusing, or more disturbing. After a while bent over a faulty repulsor from one of his gauntlets, he'd forgotten all about that mornings drama, though. There were more important things to think about.

* * *

A few days later things turned strange again. This time it still sort of involved Thor, but not directly. This time, it was Steve who was acting weird.

If he had thrown up it had been when no-one was around to hear it, but he looked a bit like Thor had the other day. Pale and clammy and his hand's weren't completely steady. And whenever he saw Thor he looked like he was about to say something, but then blushed and turned away. Before he turned even paler and shakier.

Tony caught Clint's eyes across the room, raised an eyebrow, and saw the archer nod back; he'd noticed too. So Tony wasn't imagining things.

But still, something odd happening to two people wasn't a pattern, so it was hard to say what was going on. Especially since Steve, just like Thor, refused to say a word about what had happened.

* * *

Just two days later it was Bruce who joined the "some weird shit happened and I refuse to talk about it" club. He showed up in the morning, looking even more tired and rumpled than usual, repeatedly taking his glasses off to rub at his eyes while he waited for his coffee.

When Steve joined them Tony didn't miss the way Bruce looked at the soldier, about to say something, but stopping himself. And the way Steve paled. And the "I know what happened to you and you know what happened to me but I'll kill you if you say a word" look that passed between them. Or the way they then glanced at Thor and first blushed and then turned ghostly white and went to sit at opposite sides of the kitchen table.

Clint wasn't there this morning to confirm Tony's observations, but it wasn't needed anymore. Something was going on, and it somehow involved... Thor? Was he doing something? No, that didn't fit with his reaction. He was obviously just as much a victim as Steve and Bruce. But in some way that still made them connect what had happened to Thor? What could possibly -

Oooooh... Of course. How hadn't Tony guessed from the start?

This had to be Loki's doing.

But what was "this", to be exact? No-one seemed to be really hurt or in danger in any way, so Tony felt that he could let himself be more curious than anything else at the moment, trying to figure it all out. He had nothing, though.

* * *

Natasha was next.

She didn't react like the ones before her, though. She didn't blush and go all shifty-eyed. Nope. She was _pissed_.

It was so scary Tony didn't even try to approach her with questions.

Even Clint came to hide in the workshop with him, and they didn't say one single word about any of it.

* * *

Then it was Clint's turn, and Tony was starting to feel like he was watching something unknown sneak closer and closer with every passing day, knowing it would hit him anytime but not knowing anything about what "it" was. Apart from that it was messing the entire team up, thoroughly.

He'd hoped that Clint at least would talk to him, since they had wondered about this thing all along, and Clint knew how curious he was. Here he at last had the chance to gain some insight som the only other person who had seen this going on - but Clint gave him nothing. When Tony gave him a questioning look the archer just turned white as paper and left the room so quickly he nearly tripped over his own feet.

What the hell? He could at least give Tony some kind of heads up about what was happening!

This was definitely turning more disturbing than amusing...

* * *

Later that day Tony sat down to try to make sense of all the things he knew, and what they meant.

Whatever was happening always happened at night. It was something out of control and impossible to fight.

Considering the fact that Loki was known for messing with people's heads, a good guess would be that he was somehow tampering with people's dreams.

But in what way? What would make Natasha pissed, the guys uncomfortable in the extreme, and Thor violently sick?

Ooooh... Right... And again, Tony felt really slow for not seeing where the clues pointed earlier. Especially now, when he knew who was next in line - Tony himself.

Well, shit.

* * *

Tony managed to stay awake for a bit over 48 hours. Not that he was afraid to go to sleep or anything. Pfft, nope! He just didn't feel like it. He was busy. He wasn't tired. Let's ignore the fact that his eyes were falling shut every few minutes and he was yawning so widely his jaw cracked. He wasn't tired, damnit!

In the end he had to admit defeat, though. Even the great Tony Stark needs his sleep, eventually.

Maybe he checked under his bed before crawling into it, but that was just because he had... dropped something. Yeah, that's it! His favourite... something. Didn't find it. He'd look for it tomorrow.

Tony was out like a light before his head was all the way sunken into the fluffy pillow.

* * *

There was really no warning at all. Not that he had expected one in the first place.

Black, empty unconsciousness just suddenly turned to something that could have been him being awake again, it was that real. He even stretched and yawned and blinked his eyes open, as if he had really been woken up, but something made him think it was still all a dream. The colours on everything around him were a bit off, and the light in his bedroom didn't seem to be coming from a lamp; it was a soft glow that just was, everywhere around him.

What had woken him up into this dreamland was someone slipping in under the covers beside him, and as he stretched he felt a cool, smooth body brush against his, hands sliding around his waist and hips and a mouth attaching itself to his neck. Without knowing how he knew, he was convinced they were both buck naked. And a part of him knew who this someone was, too, and that he should be worried. But when teeth nipped gently at his shoulder, one of those hands moved to sqeeze his ass and the other rubbed a warm palm over his suddenly growing erection, he had a hard time remembering why he should worry. Why all of this was apparently a bad thing.

He whined a little at his own conflicted mind when it was messing with him. Damn! It felt so good! Couldn't he be allowed to just enjoy it? What could be the harm in that?

Maybe the person in his bed thought he was whining about what was being done to him, becaue the hands stopped moving then, the mouth left his skin, and suddenly a pale, familiar face hovered over him. It was sorrunded by black hair, already gloriously tousled. And even Tony's sleeping mind knew this was Loki, and why this really _was_ a bad thing. That he should make protests, or something. Fight.

He raised his hands to do so, palms settling against wide shoulders. He even opened his mouth to tell him no. And he sort of did. But still not in the way he'd planned...

"Don't stop." Tony barely recognized his own voice in the hoarse mess coming out of him. So he gave up talking, curled his fingers around the shoulders he had intended to push away, and pulled Loki down until their lips met.

A dark little chuckle broke the kiss in the end, and then the hand that had been resting between his legs formed a warm, tight fist around his length.

Tony was in so much trouble, and couldn't make himself care.

* * *

How many years had it been since he'd woken up with cum staining his underwear? Tony didn't even remember. And even though it felt kind of gross, cold and sticking to him like this, he found himself still lying in bed ten minutes later, giving the ceiling a silly sort of grin he couldn't manage to wipe off his face.

When he stood in the kitchen area, waiting for his coffee, he had this warm, glowing feeling mixed up with exhaustion that he only had after a round of really satisfying sex. He was smiling into the cup when the beverage was done, and was still smiling when the others started dropping in to get breakfast. Tony barely noticed the way most of them were still a bit stiff and wouldn't meet each other's eyes the way they had before.

Clint came to sit down next to him after a while, when Tony had probably been staring and smiling into nothing for a while, and he made himself blink out of his fuzzy satisfaction and look over at the archer.

"What are you grinning about, Stark?" Clint frowned at him, and it wasn't that difficult to understand his bewilderment, considering the events of the last couple of weeks.

Tony smirked and gave a half shrug before sipping from his rapidly cooling coffee. "You know what? I'd rather not talk about it."

He just had time to see Clint's jaw drop so hard he nearly must have dislocated it before he got up from the table to walk to the sink to pour out the remains of his coffee.

Maybe he should keep the caffeine to a minimum and make an early night today? For once? Everyone was always telling him to get more sleep, after all...


	23. You Asked For It - Angst Edition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Another go at a prompt meme! This time with angsty lines of dialogue. The provided lines are bolded, so you know what I had to work with...)

"Do you **ever wonder if the world would be better off without you?** " Loki sounded a bit distant, even though he was lying right next to Tony. They were both flat on their backs on the roof of the Tower, staring up at the night sky. Neither of them mentioned it, but they knew they were staring at the spot where the portal had once been opened.

“‘Course I do.” Tony shifted a bit on the uneven surface. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but he liked the softness of the cool darkness on his face. “I think everyone does, at least sometimes. Kind of comes with being alive, doesn’t it? Wondering what the world would be like if you weren’t, and what it will be like when you’re not anymore.” He thought it over. “For you that’s pretty far away of course, but still.”

For a while, there came no answer, and Tony started wondering if he had taken the question less seriously than he should have. Finally he’d had it with the silence, rolled on his side and propped himself up on an elbow. There was enough light to see that Loki’s eyes were closed. His sharp, black eyebrows were pulled together a bit, his lips thinner than usual. His whole face spoke of the tension of being in pain.

"Right?", Tony prompted.

Loki’s eyes fluttered open, as if he had been far off in thought. The tension didn’t leave his pale features as his eyes moved to take in Tony’s face. “What?”

"The world being without you", Tony explained. "That’s pretty damn far off. Right?"

Again, no answer. But the way Loki couldn’t keep meeting his eyes was sort of an answer on it’s own.

"You know", Tony started as he rolled back over on his back, gazing up at the clouds drifting by, reflecting the lights of the city, "people know I’m great at talking, but pretty few know I’m also damn good at listening. So if you ever need someone to do that, **please come and get me**. You know where to find me.”

"And you would listen?" Loki sounded deeply doubtful. "To me?"

This time, Tony didn’t answer. He just reached out, fumbled a little, then found Loki’s cold hand resting between them, and held on.

* * *

**"Don’t fucking touch me."** There was no real vehemence in the words, just a firm cool. It was this fact more than anything else that made Loki take half a step back and raise his hands, open palms forward, placating.

"I’m going to the bathroom." The brown eyes, wide and dark and blodshot and simmering with anger, moved in a roll. "Is that a fucking crime these days?"

Mutely shaking his head Loki backed one more step, out of the way, letting Tony walk past him, toward the door at the other end of the room. When the lock snapped he still followed on bare, soundless feet and stood outside, listening. It was all quiet. Suspiciously quiet… He counted to fifty in his head. When everything was still silent, he placed two fingers on the metal plate covering the lock, made a turning movement with his wrist and heard it click open again. A gentle push was all it took.

Tony didn’t see him in the suddenly open doorway. He was sitting on the floor, one leg pulled to his chest and the other on the black-and-white tiles, leaning back against the shower door. Head tilted as far back as it would go, eyes shut, drinking deeply from a bottle of vodka. The door to the cupboard under the sink was open, so it was obvious where it had been hidden.

He must have put it there sometime during the last twelve hours, since Loki’s latest purge of the suite.

When Tony had to take the bottle from his slack, wet lips to breathe, he at last opened his eyes and spotted Loki, standing on the threshold staring at him. He still had enough shame left in him to flinch, so hard he nearly dropped the bottle. But he was also drunk enough to try moving back into the glass behind him, clutching the vodka to his chest, when Loki stepped closer and reached for it. When he was no longer sober he thought he could still win.

"Fuck off", he muttered. "Get your own."

"You know that is not what this is about." Loki kept his words soft, but his hands were firm when he pulled the bottle away, and held Tony down against tile and glass when he faught and squirmed, trying hard to get up, take back what was his.

Until he, very abruptly, went completely still. As Loki watched he turned a grayish, greenish pale, and swallowed a few times when saliva pooled in his mouth.

**"I’m gonna be sick…"** The words were a choked gasp.

Letting him go, Loki leaned back, and like a shot Tony was up off the floor, head in the toilet, his body rejecting what he had so eagerly poured down his throat. And when his back stopped heaving with retching, it was heaving with sobs.

Loki put the bottle away, settled behind him, and got his arms around Tony to pull him closer, nearly up in his lap. The hot, limp, shivering, shuddering body didn’t even feel like Tony’s anymore, just a tired heap of misery. A heavy hand just barely managed to curl into Loki’s shirt as he pressed his wet face into one of his shoulders.

**"Don’t trust me."** He murmured, all breath against Loki’s skin through the cloth between them. “Don’t ever trust me.”

"I won’t, love", Loki promised, pressing a kiss into his messy hair. "Never again."

* * *

There was someone sitting on his S. The bottom curve of it. Just sitting there, dangling his legs over nothing but the street far, far below. Right there, on the outside of his Tower. How the fuck had _that_ happened?!

Tony blinked. It was just by chance he’d spotted the figure, dressed in dark clothes but with a face so pale he could see it from a distance, when he’d come flying in to land on the platform above. As he came closer he could make out dark eyes staring down at the street. They didn’t come up to watch him. Maybe the guy hadn’t even heard him approach? He descended, moving right, until he sidled slowly into the man’s line of sight.

It was impossible to miss the moment the stranger on the oversized letter caught sight of him. He barely moved, but he startled visibly, tensed up, hands gripping the edge he was sitting on harder, the dark eyes went wide.

"Hey?" Tony stayed hovering close enough for the man to hear him. "Usually guests come through the lobby."

A silent, blank stare was all he got, before the man started leaning back, pulling his legs up, shifting, trying to stand, maybe. It looked completely fucking horrifying. The guy was going to slip any moment and fall and fuck if he was going to watch that happen.

"No, no, no, hey, stop moving!" He started flying closer. **"I’m coming, just sit tight!"**

Yeah, no, the man didn’t listen. At all. He just kept pulling those ridiculously long legs up under himself, twisting away, and that’s when Tony had had enough of this shit. He swept up close in one move, killed the hand repulsors and completely unceremoniously grabbed the man’s waist, pulling him free of the S and then flying them both up to land on the balcony above. There he got down on one knee, setting the stranger down.

The man tore free of his arms with surprising strength, dropping down and turning in one move, an arm up between them for protection.

Tony leaned back, raised his hands, and let the face plate flip open. “Not gonna hurt you”, he said quickly.

With an expression so blank it was scary, his eyes empty, the pale face might have belonged to a corpse. “Why not?” The raspy voice was as dead as the eyes.

* * *

Loki struggled in his arms in a way that nearly broke Tony’s heart. He heard the muffled sobs where Loki’s forehead was pressed to his shoulder, but he was still trying to get away. At last he broke free enough to lean back, his pale, sweaty face a mask of anguish and terror. Tony refused to let go, just held on to the tense, shivering form while he saw the muscles in Loki’s face start to move, pulling at his bloody lips and the stitches of too thick, way too coarse black thread across them.

It looked completely fucking nasty and Tony could almost feel how much it hurt.

"Shh, no, please, don’t try to talk." Tony rubbed the scalp under the thick, black hair his left hand was combed into, trying to soothe, leaning in to catch Loki’s eyes, rolling in panic. **"Look at me - just breathe, okay?"**

It took a few moments, but then the green eyes landed on his face at last. The pupils were blown wide with fear and pain, the ring of bright colour barely visible, and there were tears filling his eyes and spilling over. But he looked at Tony, and he did pull in a slower breath through his nose.

Tony was going to have to kill someone for this. Fuck Asgard and their sadistic fucking idiotic ideas about justice! They could all go to hell. But this wasn’t the time to think about that.

"Just keep breathing, Loki. I’ll take care of this." He kept running his fingers in soft circles over the back of Loki’s head until he saw his eyes drop close, more tears running down his cheeks. "I’ll take care of you.”

And he would, damnit. No-one was laying a hand on Loki again. Ever. Tony would see to that.

* * *

Tony had a growing feeling that something was really wrong even before he stepped on the broken shards from the mirror littering the tiled floor in the bathroom. The lights were out - or maybe the lamp had been broken too? - but the frosted window let in enough daylight to glint off the pieces of the mirror. And show the bloodstains on some of them. The drops of it here and there on the white tiles.

Yeah, this was bad.

He followed the trail of red drops into the darkest corner of the room, between the counter and a wall, and saw a familiar figure curled up in there.

"Loki?" He stopped a couple of steps away and crouched down, unwilling to tower over him and risk looking threatening in any way.

**"Just leave me _alone_.”** Loki’s voice was a dry hiss coming out of the shadows.

"What happened?", Tony asked on, pretending he hadn’t heard the impossible request.

"You know damn well what happened." Still dry, enough to be cracking at the edges this time.

"I do", he admitted, "but I thought…" He stopped. Because he didn’t have to say what he had thought to know he’d been completely wrong. He’d thought he could take care of Loki, protect him from everything. He’d thought it was over. It clearly wasn’t. Tony sighed and changed course. "Please come out of there?"

"Why? So you can mock me?"

Tony swallowed. “I’d never do that.”

"You just wish to see if I am as ruined as you remember, then?"

"Please stop." He breathed the words, carefully leaning forward, supported on a knee, one hand reaching out. "You’re not ruined."

Half a heartbeat later he was slammed down on his back, a piece of glass cutting into the back of his head, two into his shoulder, but he barely felt it. Above him, pinning him down, Loki was snarling soundlessly at him. In the light from the window the deep scars dotting his lips looked even more sharply marked than usual, especially the one at the left corner where he had torn his lip completely in his frantic attempts to get away when Tony had cut the stitches, the curse on the black thread driving him nearly out of his mind with pain. The same curse that hadn’t let him heal properly.

"No?" Loki growled, and it sounded like anger, but Tony knew it was more hurt. Saw it in the knot between his eyebrows and the sheen of tears in his eyes. "Can you look at the mess I am and say that again?"

Tony slowly, carefully raised his hands until he could cup Loki’s face, looking straight at him. “You’re not ruined, Loki”, he repeated, softly but steady. And then lifted his head off the floor and brushed his lips against the scarred ones above him.

He closed his eyes just before he felt the heat of a teardrop hitting his eyelid, running down to mix with his own.


	24. How I Met Your Uncle

”Uncle Tony?”

The little voice piping up from the deep hollow in the fluffy pillow made Tony stop tucking the small body on the bed into the covers and blanket. ”Yeah?” He looked up at the golden-haired and wide-eyed kid.

”You should tell me a story.” It wasn't a question, or request; she was just letting him know how this was supposed to go down.

”Is that so?” Chuckling a bit, he sat down on the edge of the bed, crumpling and pulling the covers loose again. ”You're pretty demanding, aren't you?”

What happened to her face then wasn't a pout, as could be expected, it was a much more grown up kind of frown. ”I'm a guest”, she informed him, seriously. When she had that sharp glint in her blue eyes is was easy to see that a thunder god had fathered her. ”You're supposed to take care of me.”

”I guess I am.” Tony pulled his grin back and tried to match her seriousness. ”Sorry, kiddo, I'm just not used to having guests in the house. I forget what to do sometimes. So!” He folded his hands in his lap and leaned toward her. ”What'll it be? Fairytale?”

She shook her head, tousling her blonde hair on the pillow. ”Those are boring! And dad tells me weird ones all the time.”

Tony guessed that those were in fact more like stories from Thor's childhood than actual fairytales, but he didn't think it was his place to explain that. Sooner or later they would be introducing her to the fact that Asgard wasn't just a pretty palace far away, and well, Tony wasn't the kind of guy to ruin a surprise. ”All right. No fairytales.” He pondered for a moment. ”Yeah, I have to admit I'm not that great with stories.” At least not the kind suitable for kids...

”Tell me something about you!” Her eyes brightened at the idea.

”Well, I could tell you about how I built my robots?”

The little button nose wrinkled at that. ”That's no fun.”

With a gasp, Tony pressed his hand to his heart in a gesture of someone deeply wounded. ”I can't believe you just said that!” Now _he_ was pouting. ”Don't let the boys hear you talking like that, or they'll be hurt.”

Giggling, the girl squirmed in deeper under the covers, until they were covering her chin. ”I won't”, she promised. ”Tell me something about uncle Loki, then! Why does he live here with you?”

Oh, well, that was a story and a half. But Tony guessed it was one he could tell her; at least if he applied a suitable level of cencorship to it, cutting out the not-so-kid-friendly parts. He cleared his throat, scratched his neck, nodded, and then made a shooing gesture at her. ”Sure, kiddo, I can tell you the story of how I ended up living with your uncle Loki, but then you have to scoot over because I'll need to sit a bit more comfortably.”

She lit up in a wide smile when she started to do just that, and Tony turned to sit with his back against the headboard instead, legs streatched out on the bed, crossed at the ankles. ”Is it a _long_ story?”, she asked, hopefully, as she pulled her pillow closer to his side and gazed up at him.

”Longest one I know”, Tony assured the girl, ruffling a hand through her golden hair. ”And it's not over yet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I don't even know... I'm really tired, okay?)


	25. You Asked For It V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the drill - another writing meme on [tumblr](http://usedupshiver.tumblr.com/), and the prompts I was given are bolded, so you will know what I had to work with. There were a lot of them in the last one, and I had so much fun! Thanks to everyone who played! :D

They were side by side in bed, undressed, but with the covers pulled up just above their hips. Loki flat on his back, eyes closed, hands resting on his chest and abdomen. Tony by his side, on his front, chin resting in a hand propped up on his elbow, the other hand lazily playing with the inky halo of hair around Loki’s head. Usually, when it was brushed and tended to after a wash, it was thick and wavy. Now it had been allowed to just dry after their shower, and then it always formed itself into real curls, all sleek corkscrews, and Tony loved the feel of it, how the serpentine shapes would always spring back when he ran his fingers through them.

**”Do you ever think we should just stop this?”** He wasn’t sure why he’d spoken up at all. It had just tumbled out of his mouth, the way things tended to do.

One of Loki’s eyes opened, and Tony could see the wide pupil contract when the lights of the room hit it, the iris around it flaring green with the movement. He studied Tony’s face for a moment, then the eye slid shut again. ”No.”

”Really?” Tony’s hand stilled. ”Never?”

”Why should I?”

”Well…” Tony had one of those moments when he knew he should just stop talking, and at the same time knew he never would. ”This is all… wrong? Isn’t it?”

Both of Loki’s eyes opened now, and bored into Tony’s face. It looked like he was ready to burst out in an argument, but then he just sighed, rolled over on his side so that he was pressed close to Tony. He hooked a leg over his hips, pulling him even closer, while he draped his arm across Tony’s back. ”Right or wrong means very little to me, Tony”, he murmured as he rubbed his lips against the hand that had moments ago been in his hair, eyes closed once more.

”Yeah, I’ve noticed.” Tony smiled down at the profile on the sheet, powerful and delicate all at once.

”I would have been disappointed if you hadn’t. But why do you think that is?”

”Because you’re a tricksy little shit?”

Tony both saw the smile, and felt it against his knuckles.

”Well, yes, at times that is all of it”, Loki agreed, one eye opening and rolling up to take Tony in again. ”Other times? Then I remember facing the empty pit of the universe, and I consider how I will measure my life if I face it again. Which things I will regret having done, and which things I will regret not doing.” He turned his head to meet Tony’s eyes fully. ”Wrong or right means nothing in the void.”

And then Tony knew that the only right thing was to bend his head down and kiss those words away. So he did. Because sometimes, right or wrong means everything.

* * *

”The ocean looks good on you”, Tony’s voice said by his ear, as Loki felt him come up to stand close behind him on the wide, sweeping balcony of the Malibu mansion. ”I think I should buy you a suit the colour of that water. Dress you in it from head to heel.” Warm lips feathered a kiss along the side of his neck. ”Bet you’d look fucking spectacular.”

Frowning, Loki turned his head and studied the profile of the man’s face out of the corner of his eye. **”Are you drunk?”**

”No more than usual.” With a shrug that Loki felt more than saw, Tony moved to curl his arms around his waist. ”But that’s not what this is about. **I’m flirting with you.** In case you didn’t notice.”

”I did, as a matter of fact”, Loki said, ghosting pale fingertips over the back of Tony’s hands. ”But why?”

”Why not?” The arms held him tighter.

Loki turned in the hold, until he could look down into the warm smile playing in creases around dark eyes. ”There is no need; you already have me.”

”See, that’s where a lot of people get it wrong. That’s not when you’re supposed to stop flirting.” The calloused skin of Tony’s fingers caught slightly in the fabric of Loki’s shirt when he moved them over his lower back. ”That’s when you start doing it for real.”

”Is that so?” Slipping his arms around the back of Tony’s neck, Loki leaned forward until their foreheads touched. ”And how do you do it ‘for real’, then?”

”By reminding us both that I do have you. Just like you have me.” While he spoke, Tony’s mouth found his neck again, soft brushes of lips turning to open-mouthed kisses between words. His hands warm and steady and safe against his back. ”That if I have any say in it, we’ll have eachother forever. Because there’s no-one else in this world. In any world. I want to touch like this. For as long as I live.

Hot, extatic shivers ran down Loki’s spine, and in his chest, his heart felt like it must be glowing. ”That’s not flirting, Tony”, he said, and his voice felt like a breathless gasp. ”That’s… something else.”

”Oh? Well… It was all real, though.”

* * *

He shouldn’t. He knew he shouldn’t. But as soon as Tony left the room, Loki snatched his phone from the table. It was a long time since he had figured out the code to unlocking it, and moments later he was staring at the last message. The one that had made Tony get up from the couch.

_**I did a pregnancy test.** We need to talk…_

It felt like a trap door had opened in his chest, and his heart fell though it. Never hitting the bottom, because there was none. Just endless darkness full of nothing. Adrenaline shot through him like lightning, made his muscles tremble and surge with energy he couldn’t use for anything but putting the phone back down, and then lean back, a leg pulled to his chest. His thigh muscles felt like they might explode, his fingers were ice cold, something like static was whispering in his ears.

What had he expected? Really? Oh, he was such a fool… When Tony had fucked him, holding him close, and muttered in his ear how he never touched her anymore, never went near her, Loki had believed it. Even when he knew he shouldn’t have. And now he had all the proof he needed. Because why would she have told him she was pregnant if he hadn’t slept with her in months?

He had thought he would be able to pretend nothing had happened, but the moment Tony showed up in the doorway Loki knew he had been wrong. Even if everything wasn’t clear as writing across his face, he found that he couldn’t hold it in.

”You have to go home, Tony”, he said, as shakily as his hands. ”She needs you.”

It looked like he had delivered a blow to the man’s face. Then the dark eyes flickered to the phone on the table, and quickly back to Loki. ”You always twist things the worst possible way, don’t you?”

”I’m not twisting anything. You’re the one who told me you never touched her anymore.”

When Tony’s eyes dropped to the floor, Loki knew the truth. He felt a choked little laugh push at the back of his throat, and it almost made him gag.

”I knew what I was from the beginning; nothing but a lie.” Loki ran trembling fingers through his hair and blinked away wetness in his eyes, trying to see the greenery outside the window clearly. ”I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s all I’ve ever been.”

”Loki, don’t -”

”Leave. Now.” Loki had to swallow and gasp in a breath before he could go on after cutting Tony off so sharply. ”Please.” It was a whisper. ”I hate myself too much to look at you.” Loki didn’t turn from the window, he just buried his face in his hands and listened as Tony, after a moment’s hesitation, picked the phone up, left the room, and slammed the door to the apartment behind himself.

In his chest Loki’s heart was still falling, deeper and deeper into the void.

* * *

”I don’t want you to see me like this.” Tony’s slim body turned half away when Loki came to sit next to him on the bed, lifting a hand to wipe at his face, swallowing a sob. ”You got this whole… otherworldly, guardian angel thing going and I… Fuck.” He gasped in a breath. ”Fuck, I’m pathetic.”

Loki didn’t try to turn the young man around with the arm he put around his shoulders; he just pulled him closer, into his side. Tony was so precocious, it made it easy to forget how young he was, still. At seventeen his body might be nearly mature, but he was still very much a boy, one wrapped up in the part of life where his family’s approval meant everything. Which was so painfully apparent at the moment…

With a tortured little twist to his mouth, one Tony couldn’t see, Loki bent his head until he could murmur into the thick, brown hair. **“You know, it’s okay to cry.”**

A wet laugh escaped Tony, a note of surprise in the sound. ”Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say ‘okay’ before.”

”I’m learning.”

”Yeah, you are.” He fell silent, and Loki could feel the tension coil in the shoulders under his arm until it snapped and came out in another choked sob. With a sharp twist Tony turned, and dropped into Loki’s lap, staying close without having to show his face, hiding it against a long, leather-covered thigh. ”And I’m not! I’m so stupid! I’ll never be good enough!”

Hushing him softly, Loki ran long, tender fingers through his hair, down the nape of his tense neck, rubbing over the hot, shivering back. ”Oh, but you’re right, Tony”, he said, gently. ”You never will be good enough.” He felt the back tense up even more, and smiled a sad smile to himself as he continued. ”Because you already are good enough. And more. You’re already perfect.”

The back under his hand was still, but no longer tense, now it felt more like a stunned kind of stillness, and the sobs had died down to sniffles. Then an arm came snaking around Loki’s lower back, hugging him, while the wet face pressed down harder into his thigh.

”Could you…? Please? Just… say that again?” The words were muffled, of course, but Loki both felt and heard them.

And he could. So he did. He sat there, gently stroking the head in his lap, and repeated bright and brilliant and strong and beautiful and perfect. All night. Until Tony forgot that he had ever thought himself any such thing as ‘pathetic’.

* * *

"So…" Tony cleared his throat and looked down into his cup of coffee with sudden interest. "You… eh… Like me?" Considering the things Loki had drunkenly blurted out that weekend, "like" might be an understatement, but, you know… had to start somewhere, right?

He glanced up from the black beverage and saw that Loki was studying the foam on his untouched latte with the same intense interest Tony had directed at his own coffee moments ago. There was a very sharp and red blush rising in his pale cheeks. First there was just silence across their table, a bubble of awkwardness surrounded by the relaxed, comfortable atmosphere of the coffee shop. But then Loki opened his mouth, and said… well, nothing. It was mostly a garbled little mumble before he snapped his teeth together. All things considered, it still spoke volumes.

**“I’m sorry”** , Tony said, not really sure what he was apologizing for. Maybe for unwittingly turning the usually so confident and sassy Loki into this blushing, fumbling mess? **"I didn’t know.”**

Loki placed his tall, purple cup on the table, still without ever having brought it to his mouth, and let his gaze wander off along the floor, taking a detour around table legs and muddy shoes before returning to the table. Where it made a quick trip up to Tony’s face, before promptly retreating to the warm safety of the latte.

**“It wasn’t supposed to happen like that.”** It was all real, grown-up words this time, although still hesitant and quiet. “Telling you, I mean.”

Tony considered those words for a moment. “But it was supposed to happen? At some point?” He didn’t know what his tone was conveying. Curiosity? Teasing? Hope? A little bit of all of it?

Obviously Loki wasn’t sure what to make of his inflection either, because the slightly bloodshot, green eyes came up to search for clues in his face, before he gave some sort of reply. It didn’t seem to help much. “I… You…? I don’t… Maybe?” He made an exasperated noise and hid his face half in a long hand, elbow resting on the table next to his cup. “I didn’t think there would be any point.”

No need to ask why. Tony knew what sort of reputation he had made for himself. But reputations are very rarely a perfect reflection of reality, after all.

"Yeah, well, I’m happy it did happen." And he was. Maybe it wouldn’t lead to anything, but he was still happy. He’d felt the tension in the air between them and a part of him had been worried there had been something wrong, that he might be about to lose a friend. This was better.

Loki stared at him, lips parting. “You are?”

"Of course I am." Tony felt like he was on solid enough ground again to dare give Loki a little smirk. "How else would I have ever found out I have the ‘most delicious looking ass in the tri-state area’?"

A furiously burning blush flared in Loki’s cheeks again, but he couldn’t hold back a smile either. “Shut up, Tony”, he muttered. “Knowing you, you probably already thought the same thing yourself.”

"Busted…"

* * *

 **“It wasn’t supposed to happen like that.”** Tony leaned in over the table on his elbows, coming closer to the flickering, blurred, black-and-white footage on the screen in front of him. Then he turned his head half around to glance over his shoulder. “Was it?”

He found Loki turned away, pointedly not looking at the screen, his shoulders drawn up in protection. The ghostly light showed the movements in his jaw when he clenched it, muscles flexing. For a while he said nothing, and Tony started to think he wasn’t going to answer at all.

**"Have you ever wanted to hate someone?"** Loki spoke in a hushed tone that did nothing to hide the sharp edges on the words. Sharp edges that seemed to cut his throat.

Tony considered the question while he watched Thor walking along a dusty, colourless street, lined with the wreckages of smoking, overturned cars and damaged buildings. In jeans and a shirt he looked nothing at all like the Thor he had become familiar with, but he was walking closer to the huge, metallic construct with a familiar confidence. He saw Thor’s lips move, and even though the footage had no audio, Tony knew what he was saying.

Brother, whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am truly sorry.

He’d watched it so many times that he knew it by heart.

"I think I can honestly say that I never have", he finally answered. "There have been very, very few people I have actually, really, truly hated, and when it’s gone that far I’ve found that it’s a real fucking pain to hate people. And just like pain, it drains you. Hurts you more than them. A lot more." He leaned back in the chair, eyes still on the screen where the construct hesitated for a moment, and then sent Thor flying with an almost casual backhanded slap. "So, no, I have never wanted it."

Loki sighed. “I wanted to hate him. I thought I did hate him.” The sound of movement and soft steps followed the words, and then Tony felt hands come to rest on his shoulders when Loki stopped behind his chair. “Then he opened his mouth and nothing but complete ignorance fell from his lips. And I knew I couldn’t.”

"But you still killed him." Tony watched Foster run up to fall down by Thor’s side.

“I still killed him”, Loki agreed, his voice so dispassionate it was a bit scary.

"Why?"

Loki was silent again, his hands so, so heavy on Tony’s shoulders. “Because I couldn’t hate him, yet I couldn’t bear to love him either, and I thought that since my heart was dead, he should die with it.”

* * *

**Ghost and living person AU**

In truth, Anthony had never been greatly successful in sneaking things past Loki. He could see that it worked so well on others; one wide, innocent look from those brown eyes, one sweet smile, and everyone seemed willing to believe anything – good or bad. Although, admittedly, mostly bad… It had been one of the things that had drawn Loki in to begin with; this skill in trickery and mischief and deception and, well, yes – seduction. Because that was what it all boiled down to, in the end. Anthony could seduce you into believing anything.

And for a few glorious years, Loki had believed. With all his heart. Now, he no longer had one.

They had been so certain Stark would be the first one to pass. Loki had been fully prepared to be the one left behind. He had never, ever been prepared to be the one leaving.

But even now, when all he was was a flickering memory moving along the borders between worlds and realities, Anthony still couldn’t fool him, and Loki saw what was coming. He knew what was moving in that brilliant head, he could see the determination turn to something solid behind the dark eyes. Even when the ones still living could not. They were all so relieved that Anthony would speak to them again, welcome them in when they visited. It seemed they were all too blind to see that it was all a part of the decision that was being made behind the darkly innocent mask of Stark’s face.

Then again, Loki saw all the things they were not allowed to see. The way Anthony’s shoulders slumped when they had left, like the weight of the universe had settled over them. The tears he stubbornly tried to choke back and swallow even when he was alone. The way he had started going to sleep with his fingers curled around a plastic container full of pills. Holding on to it like a comfort, security, a way out…

Yes, the decision was being made, Loki could sense it. But it was not yet made.

There was still time.

So one night Loki came to settle on the bed where Anthony was asleep, clutching his escape, stretching out beside him and watching his face. Once, it would have been so soft and peaceful in sleep, young and relaxed. Now it was still tense, grief and pain following him down into his dreams, and there was a line between his eyebrows where they pulled together in a miserable frown, perpetually. Loki wished he could have smoothed that line out with the brush of a finger, but he couldn’t. He still settled the memory of a hand over Anthony’s, where it was holding the container.

**”Please”** , he whispered, **”don’t do this!”**

Something shifted in Anthony’s face, as if the echo of Loki’s voice was something he could still hear, even when it was long gone. Loki hoped it was so, because he still had so much to tell him.

”I long for you. With all the greed my heart used to know. But I will not have you join me like this.” He rubbed a spectral thumb in tiny cicles over Anthony’s. ”There is more to you than missing me. A world out there to save. A man in here to save. You can do both.”

The line between the dark eyebrows deepened, Stark’s body moving restlessly in sleep, as if he was protesting the words he shouldn’t even hear.

”Yes, you can, love.” Loki smiled, and hoped he would feel it. ”We have fallen enough. It’s time to rise. You have before, you can do it again.”

He stayed there the rest of the night, watching the lines on the tanned face smooth out, just a hint, but he didn’t have the power to speak anymore.

When dawn came and Anthony blinked his eyes open, Loki nearly believed, for a moment, that they looked right at his face. But then they shifted down to the container he was still cradling in his hand. A frown returned to his face, but this one was different, and when he left the bed it was to step outisde, to the balcony overlooking the wide ocean. Anthony stopped by the railing, looked at the thing in his hand, tossed it up once and caught it, the pills inside it rattling. Then he twisted around, pulled his arm back, and threw it, as far as he could.

The decision was made.

* * *

  
**And last but not least - three prompts that turned into a story in three parts...**

**“You don’t need to protect me.”** Tony sat down next to Loki on the narrow bunk in the SHIELD holding cell. If it could be considered a cell when the door wasn’t locked, and the inhabitant was there of his own free will. “You’re not dangerous, and even if you were, I don’t scare that easily.”

Shaking his head, curling himself up harder against the wall, Loki raised a blue hand to pull the striped hood down further over his face. The hand was so familiar, even with the new colouration and the dark nails and the lines marking it. It was still the same deceptively slender and frighteningly strong thing. “I am. You don’t know how dangerous, that is the problem.”

Tony did know, though. He’d seen the results of the scans and the tests and what had happened to the poor bastard who had stood in the way when Loki had suffered from what they were all pretty sure had been an anxiety attack. ‘Frostbite’ didn’t even begin to cover it. Loki had never meant to do it, though. Tony was willing to bet everything he owned on that. He’d seen the footage. And - more importantly - he saw Loki right now. Hiding in his hoodie, hissing in panic as soon as anyone got within arm’s reach.

But he didn’t say any of that. Loki wouldn’t listen. He said something else:

**“Come home with me.”**

Slowly Loki raised his head and all but gaped at him. “What?”

"You heard." Tony smiled, the kind of smile that hurt. "Please? The bed’s way too empty without you, thinking of you sleeping in this hole breaks my heart, and I fucking miss you. Come home."

The wide, red eyes slowly filled with liquid, until they ran over. Loki didn’t even blink, just let the tears fall. “Home?”

"Home", Tony confirmed, and placed a gentle hand on Loki’s thigh, just above the knee. He could feel a slight chill through the thick sweatpants, and the flinch following his touch, but he didn’t take the hand back. "That’s what it is, for us both. It’s where you belong. Not here."

Loki’s gaze flitted all over his face, from one eye to the other, taking in the tension in his lips, the furrow of his brows, everything. “You truly mean that?”

"With all my heart."

Another minute of hesitation followed. Then Loki pulled the striped hood down until it covered his forehead, before leaning in to rest it against Tony’s, making sure their skin didn’t touch. His sigh was like winter air on Tony’s lips. “Yes”, he whispered. “Take me home.”

* * *

**”I can’t let you do that.”** Tony’s eyes were deep, golden pools of seriousness.

Loki groaned in exasperation with his stubbornness. ”Tony, please! Just turn on the -”

”Nope. Ain’t happening.” A short but firm headshake. ”We’re watching a movie. Together. That means you sit right here.” Tony rubbed his hand in a demonstrative little circle over the seat right next to his own hip. ”And definitely not over there.” He raised the hand to indicate the place at the far end of the couch, where Loki had chosen to place himself when he entered the room.

”I shouldn’t.” Without thinking, Loki let his eyes drop to his own hands in his lap. Blue. He pulled them into the sleeves of the oversized hoodie he had found to wear – or hide in, more accurately – since the theft of his magic.

”Yeah, you should.” There was no arguing with that tone. ”And by the way? There’s just one bowl of popcorn. And it’s standing right here.” Loki heard a tapping noise, and glanced up to see Tony’s fingertips move against the side of the red plastic bowl on the sidetable by his elbow. ”I’m not moving it. You want some, you get your chilly little ass over here.”

That bastard! Loki clenched his teeth. Tony knew very well that he had a huge weakness for the strange, white puffs. Even though they didn’t really taste of much but salt and starch, the texture of them fascinated him. They were oddly addictive.

”Fine!” He all but spat the word out, although he was far more worried than angry, and got up from his seat to walk over and slowly place himself beside Tony. Careful to keep at least some distance, leaning half forward and to the side. ”Satisfied?”, he muttered, glaring at the mortal.

”Not nearly.” Tony’s pleased smile was at odds with the words, however. ”It’s a good start, but I can make it better.” With that, he reached out with a hand behind Loki and pulled on a blanket that had been folded over the back of the coach. He shook it out, draped it over Loki’s shoulders, and then unceremoniously grabbed his upper arms and pulled on him, until Loki slumped back into Tony’s side, his arm around him, keeping him in place. ”Now we’re getting somewhere! This, right here? This is how we watch movies.”

Still not able to relax fully against the man Loki saw the wide, black screen in front of them flicker to life when Tony raised the remote. But when minute after minute passed, the movie started playing, and Tony didn’t seem uncomfortable at all, he slowly, by small degrees, let his muscles soften and let out a slow sigh, leaning in.

A moment later, the red bowl landed in his lap, followed by a smile and a ”good boy”, like he was some sort of pet that had just been well behaved enough to earn a treat.

Red eyes narrowing, Loki grabbed a fistful of popcorn, and moved himself closer against the other. ”Tony?”

”Yeah?”

”When you fall asleep, I’m going to slip a hand under your shirt and make you wake up squealing like a frightened child.”

Chuckling, Tony hugged his shoulders harder. ”Worth it.”

* * *

A heavy, foggy steam filled the bathroom when Loki slipped in through the door, lured there by an unfamiliar sound. In his usual hoodie, it got unbearably hot very quickly, and since Tony was occupied in the shower, he dared to risk pulling it off while he tiptoed closer. Not that he really needed to be quiet; Tony’s voice was already masking any sound he made. Because that was what had sparked his curiosity. Not the voice in itself, of course, but what it was doing - singing.

Loki didn’t know the song, and didn’t care at all. The deep, warm, honey-smooth voice was enough. It was beautiful. Spellbound by the sound, he just moved closer, barely thinking about what he was doing until he had already opened the glass door and peeked inside, coming closer to the sweet sound.

Tony opened his eyes, saw him, and abruptly turned silent. “What?” He looked surprisingly embarrassed.

**“I didn’t know you could sing.”** Loki smiled - but then he noticed the way Tony’s eyes traveled from his face down his bare, blue chest, widening as they went, and his smile slipped away as he was the one feeling embarrassed. Instinctively, he crossed his arms over his chest, turning half away. “I’m sorry. I’ll leave.”

"Please don’t?" A tanned hand came out to push the door open even more. Brown eyes turning the invitation to a plea. "It’s warm in here. You won’t hurt me."

Blinking through the fog, Loki found himself actually considering it. Maybe Tony was right; the water was hot enough that even if they stood too close, Tony would be safe from the cold. If only that was the only thing Loki needed to protect him from…

"You would have to… look at me."

"Yeah, I know you don’t agree on this one, but that really doesn’t hurt either." Tony tilted his head to the side. "I miss having you undressed."

Something about the way he said it made Loki’s breath hitch. He swallowed, and couldn’t stop his own eyes from dropping from Tony’s face to his chest, abdomen, hips, and… Suddenly he wanted nothing more than to be undressed, too, but he forced his gaze back up to Tony’s face. It was very serious.

"I miss having you.” 

The protest Loki’s mind had meant to give met the flood of pure want that filled his body, and blended into something that came out as a strange, strangled and completely meaningless noise in his throat. 

It made Tony smile. “How about I just hold you? And sing in your ear?” The smile widened. “Until you change your mind and ask me to do something else…”


	26. Phylactery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On Svartalfheim, on a bed of black gravel and dust, Loki Laufeyson draws his last breath.  
> In Manhattan, in a bed dressed with egyptian cotton sheets, Tony Stark wakes up screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (So this is my take on a "deleted scene" from Thor: The Dark World - what really happened to Loki on Svartalfheim?)

He's staring up into the face of a creature he doesn't even have a name for. It's huge and hulking, looks fashioned out of the same gray and black rocks as the landscape behind it, horns and tusks and spikes all over. Something picked out of a demonic nightmare. And he knows it shouldn't be standing. Not after he shoved a blade right through it's body. But it does; the damn thing barely flinched.

Then, before the thought that he has made a horrible mistake can even fully form, hands grab his arms and pull him into a kind of lethal parody of an embrace, scewering him on the same blade he used himself just seconds ago. He can feel it cut through skin and flesh and punch through the ribs in his back and the pain... Jesus fucking Christ the pain! He wishes he could scream it out, maybe that would help, but it's so all-consuming he can't. Ice and fire and acid and breaking and tearing.

Somewhere, close and still much too far away, someone is calling a name. One that's his and at the same time not his at all.

And then the creature pushes him back off the blade again, and that is even worse, the rough metal ripping through his torn body, before he lands with a jarring crash on the ground. His body convulses, tries to reflexively curl up around the wound for protection, but he can't. He's already too weak to move that much and the dark, red, stormy sky above starts growing even darker. Something is spreading through him from the injury, eating away at him from the inside, and he knows it's too late, too late, all over, this was not how he planned it, this was not the way he thought it would end and yet it does end... 

...in a flash of searing pain that made him scream, for real this time, at last waking him up.

Tony sat up in bed with a jolt, tearing shaking hands from the sheets and covers and pressed his palms to his solarplexus, completely sure that he would find a messy, bleeding, blackening hole cutting right into his body. Panting and sweating and shivering he ran his fingertips over his skin, but there was nothing there. Just him. Whole (or as whole as he ever was) and unharmed.

”Fuck!” He groaned the curse out as he slowly came to the realization that it hadn't been real. The pain he could still feel a ghost of hadn't been real. Just a dream. One even worse than the others he'd had during the year since the invasion, but still just a dream.

Pulling in a slower breath, forcing himself to calm down, Tony looked down at himself, just to make absolutely sure he wasn't injured – and screamed again. He flinched, rolled, landed on the floor with a thud and a shout, and continued crawling backwards across the room, like a crab, as if he could crawl away from the device in his own sternum. When his back hit a wall he stopped, got his hands on the arc reactor and rubbed at it, hoping he could make it right.

”JARVIS! What the hell is going on?! Am I dying? Is it malfunctioning? Talk to me!”

”Sir”, came the cool reply from above, ”your vitals are perfectly normal, apart from a severly elevated level of stress. The reactor is working at normal capacity, and the shrapnel is securely in place.”

”Then what the fuck is this about?” Tony took his hands away again, staring down at the venomous, green glow emanating from his chest.

”Something in the energy signature seems to have changed. I believe it is somehow...” The AI made an uncharacteristic pause. ”Alive, sir.”

Which had to be the last thing Tony wanted to hear in that moment. He groaned in exasperation, rolled over and got up on his feet to walk back to the bed, muttering under his breath about silly computers and scary stories and debugging. Half way to the bed, it felt like someone suddenly hit him over the head, really hard, except there was no pain. It just rattled his brain around in his skull, made him dizzy and woozy and his knees abruptly buckle under him. His field of vision narrowed, but this wasn't blacking out – it was greening out. Was that a thing? It was now. A vicious, toxic green fog was forming clouds in his mind and smothering him, blanking all his thoughts.

He felt himself place a hand on the floor, pushing back up on his feet, but it wasn't him doing it. Far away his body was nothing but a marionette, something hiding in the green fog pulling his strings. Someone standing behind the curtain.

Tony's mouth opened, and words he had never planned on saying came out. ”Prep a suit, JARVIS. I need to leave.”

”Yes, sir.”

_No! Don't do what I say, damnit!_

He was screaming on the inside. But his internal protests obviously weren't heard. And then his mind turned even more clouded and muddled and he barely knew what was going on as he went to the launch pad, entered the suit, and flew off. To where? What the fuck was happening? _Where the fuck was he going?!_

Within moments he was out over open sea. Seconds later the sound barrier was his bitch and he – or rather, the thing controlling both him and the suit – was racing east, into the sunrise slowly spreading over the horizon.

The strings and threads pulling at him were tugging harder all the while, tearing at him.

The most disturbing thread was the one pulling at his arc reactor. It was like a thread in a spider web, something so fine it wasn't even really visible, but for the thing caught in it, it was so strong there was no way out. And Tony was the thing caught. Now his body had to speed up even more just to keep some slack on that thread, because when it pulled taut the pain shot through him like poison daggers.

On the HUD a course set for London suddenly flickered to life, and Tony realized he himself had just asked for that to happen. What was in London?

Whatever was running this Tony-show didn't bother answering.

He saw the fucking spaceship from miles away when he reached the city. It was fucking _huge_! Couldn't miss it, really. But on the other hand, it nearly distracted him from the gaping holes floating around in the sky above it, like otherworldly clouds in different colours, all slowly shifting toward the same point.

The thing controlling him didn't care about the ship. Or the fighting Tony saw a brief glimpse of as he flew by above. His suit just turned away from it, focusing on the floating portals.

The moment he saw the dark portal looming in the blue sky above him, he knew how this would end, and his whole being screamed in protest. But even as he refused and rejected the whole thing, his body kept on moving forward, unstoppable. The force driving him was the strongest he had ever encountered, the most powerful compulsion he had ever known. Tony had thought his libido was hard to resist. He'd thought the force making his hand reach for the bottle even when his head told it _NO_ was strong. Yeah, he'd known fucking nothing. This was like being swallowed up by sheer will, like something outside reaching into him, filling him, and making him do whatever it wanted. A Tony Stark sock-puppet. As much as he hated that pretty disturbing mental image, he had to admit that it was perhaps even more apt than the marionette. Strings pulling at him didn't cover it anymore.

Over his head the portal into darkness was filling his whole field of vision, and still getting closer. And that, that was when Tony broke, and started begging.

"Please", he whispered. It was difficult to get out, but not impossible, not now when the force inside him had no reason to use his mouth. "Please, don't make me do this. Stop. Please! Not this. Anything but this! Please, don't. Please... Don't make me. Not again. No, no, _no_!"

But no-one was listening. At least no-one who cared. So while furious, terrified tears ran down his face and panic made him sweat and shiver inside the suit, he still accelerated straight up, away from the world and into the void.

Again.

* * *

Maybe he blacked out for a moment. Maybe his brain just scrambled. But he didn't remember passing through the portal. So when he was aware of his surroundings again, he was surprised to see that this actually wasn't the void. He wasn't back in that empty, mind-bending, Lovecraftian nightmare. This wasn't Earth, he was sure of that; the reddish gray sky pressing down on him felt alien enough. But it wasn't an endless nothing - it was another world. One that even felt a little bit... familiar? Jagged, black rocks and cliffs everywhere. Gray dust. It was the landscape he had seen just hours ago, in the dying dream that had started this whole mess. He'd been convulsing and gasping through pain in this dust so recently, and now he was here, flying over it. 

It was completely fucking with his mind.

In the distance he could see a storm passing, forming swirling pillars of more dust. When he studied the ground it was obvious it had been through here; everything was a smooth surface, no tracks, nothing to follow. But it didn't matter, because the thread tied to his reactor knew where he was going anyway. Now it was pulling him down in a hard dive into a shallow valley, close to some cliffs and rocks, made him come to a heavy landing that sent the dust shifting and flying everywhere.

When it settled again it had moved enough to reveal at least part of what he suddenly knew he had been looking for - a person. A fucking familiar person. Oh no. Oh shit! There was no mistaking the leather and the flash of green. Even when the pale skin had turned gray and blotchy and he was still in a way Tony had never seen. Loki had always seemed on the move before, but now he wasn't. Not even when the force pulled Tony even closer, down on a knee by the fallen man. And when he was close enough he could see that there was gray dust all over Loki's eyelids, his thin lips, even his _teeth_ , and there was no breathing disturbing it. Then he knew that it really had been a dream of dying, but he hadn't been the one left dead. So why had he been summoned here, to the side of a dead enemy?

His body knew the answer, and he could only watch as a red gauntlet gripped one of the thin, limp hands and lifted it, pressed the palm to his chest, right above the sharp, vicious green glow.

At first, nothing. Then the green light started seeping into that hand, was sucked into it, absorbed, and as it traveled from Tony into Loki, the skin shifted back into a smooth, pale colour, just stained by the dust clinging to it. Soon the same change happened to his face, and then Tony could see the lips tense over the dirty teeth, the eyelids flutter, but not open. And the hand was now pressing against his chest of its own will and power, draining away whatever the green devilry was... until it started draining more than that, tapping into the power of the reactor itself, making the HUD flash warnings and the light of the reactor flicker in a worrying way and no, no, no that's not okay fuck this shit and then his hand gripped the wrist he was holding harder, and threw it away from his chest while he fell backward in his desperate hurry to get away.

And he could. He could get away. The light glowing in his chest was blue again, cool and bright and familiar and safe, and there were no strings pulling at him, no foreign will filling him and forcing him. He was free. Gasping and flailing Tony turned over, feeling a bit like a beetle on its back for a moment before he got back on his knee, ready to stand. Then curiosity made him glance back over his shoulder at the man behind him, and the sight of glowing, green eyes made him freeze in place, staring.

Slowly, dust falling off him to reveal more of his armour, Loki sat up. One of his hands went to the bloody hole in his chest, running over it, but his flaring eyes were locked on Tony's faceplate.

On shaking, weak legs, very happy for the support of the armour, Tony stood up, staring down at the recently-dead man. And couldn't resist flipping the faceplate up to glare at Loki eye to eye. "What the fuck did you do to me? Your little mindcontrol trick failed, remember? How the hell did this happen?"

A very unsettling smile came to Loki's face, lips dry and cracked, teeth still gray in places. "Yes, I see why you would think that", his gravelly voice said, slowly. "I let you think that. I never tried to take anything from you, however – I left something behind."

Tony frowned, and put a gauntlet over the reactor in is chest. "What, more exactly?"

Chuckling, then coughing, Loki rolled to his knees and stood to face him. ”Something very dear to me, Stark.” He grinned. ”I left it inside something dear to you. Something I knew you would do anything to keep safe. And you did a marvellous job.” Loki placed a hand on his torn armour and actually bowed lightly over it, grinning up at Tony through the movement. ”Now if you would excuse me?”

And then he just vanished. On the spot. There one second, gone the next. Tony stared at the suddenly empty footprints in the dust, and then turned his face to the reddish sky, where he was apparently supposed to somehow find his own way back to Earth.

_**”FUCK!”** _

Wherever Loki had tricked off to, Tony was going to find him, and tear him a new one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Phylactery = artefact used by a lich to store its soul, or a part of it, so escape death. Figured Loki must have learned something useful from hanging around a being that worships Death, right?)


	27. Midsummer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki attempts to spell away falling in love (a la "Practical Magic")...

Loki was barely two hundred years old when he decided that he never wanted to fall in love. People lied and people left. They died and they deceived. And nothing ever seemed worth the pain.

When midsummer came he joined the other young men and women when they walked out into the fields to pick nine wild flowers to place under their pillow, so they would dream of the one they would one day wed. But Loki picked his flowers for another reason – to each flower he whispered a truth about the love of his life, the only one he would ever have, and he made sure to make it such an impossible list that it would never come true. That his love would never exist.

The first flower he picked was such a deep blue it was almost black, dotted with white, like stars. ”My love is not of this world”, Loki told it, ”but many realms away.”

The second was red and gold, with thin petals, like flames. ”My love was born in fire.”

The third flower was a strange, dark purple. ”My love has cheated death.”

The fourth one happend to look exactly like the one before, so Loki told it, ”Twice.”

The fifth was bright blue, with two heart-shaped buds hanging below the open flower. ”My love has two hearts.”

The sixth was pure white. ”My love is brilliant enough to trick me.”

The seventh soft pink. ”But foolish enough to trust me.”

The eighth one he missed when he reached to pull it free from the ground and ended up with a blade of the grass that grew everywhere, impossible to get rid of. ”My love is as stubborn as me”, he said, adding the grass to the flowers.

The ninth and final flower had two stalks, one with a still tightly furled bud, mostly green with just a hint of something dark gold at the tip, and one with a flower already half wilted, the petals turned a warm brown hue. “My love is not yet born”, he told it, “but will be older than me when we first meet.”

Loki slept with his spelled flowers under his pillow that night and if he dreamt anything, he never remembered it later. And he was certain the love of his life was impossible enough to never happen, and that his heart was safe.


	28. Dinner Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the lovely, brilliant Mia_a03 on her birthday.

The blast of green energy slammed into Tony’s chest plate and knocked him clear off the rooftop. He only just managed to steady himself in the air before he started dropping toward the street below.

”Shit!” He spun around in time to see Loki straighten up from the crouch he’d curled into to throw the spell at him. ”Okay, I get it, no on sushi.” Tony didn’t even pause before flipping a palm up, aiming a repulsor beam for Loki’s chest in turn.

With an unimpressed huff Loki spun out of its way and started summoning another nasty-looking sphere of green light in his right hand. Half hidden behind his back. ”That would be a no on sushi, yes. Cleverly deduced, Stark.”

Landing with a thud on the roof Tony raised both hands in a ready-position, knowing the next attack would come any second. ”I’m just surprised, you know? I thought you liked sushi, because -” He cut off with a muffled curse, only just deflecting the next flare of green. This time he managed to stay planted on his feet, but it still jarred him to the core. ”Fuck, Loki. I thought you liked it because I distinctly remember you doing some really creative stuff with the ginger last time and I -”

”I said no!” A barrage of smaller but quicker blasts followed, making it impossible for Tony to say anything.

So far Loki had – literally and figuratively – shot down every suggestion he’d made for their dinner tonight. No on thai, no on italian, no as fuck on french, and this painful bag of nope on sushi.

Tony was beginning to wonder if what they ate was really the problem. Maybe Loki just didn’t want to see him. Which, yeah, okay, that hurt worse than the spell blast that had just hit his shoulder.

That did it.

Tony ducked under the next green flash, fired up the thrusters and shot across the roof fast enough to even take Loki by surprise. He tackled the trickster right up against the wall behind him, heard some of the concrete crack and crumble, but just pinned Loki’s armoured shoulders harder to the surface with his gauntlets, an array of missiles on his shoulder aimed straight at Loki’s face.

”Okay spit it out”, he demanded through the speakers. ”What’s the deal? I thought we agreed on celebrating this one year thing. With dinner.”

”We did”, Loki growled at him, mouth a snarl.

”Then what’s your problem, huh?” He pulled Loki’s shoulders away from the wall a bit, only to slam them back into it to the sound of the suit whirring with the strain, more concrete crumbling, and Loki actually giving a little grunt on impact.

”You are making it much too _complicated_!” And at the last word Loki’s hands were against his middle and just exploded, sending him flying and landing on his back, for a moment stunned and helpless. And it was enough for Loki to slam down over him, straddling his thighs and pinning his legs with his own, one hand effortlessly holding down a shoulder, the other raised and full of glittering, green barbs.

”What?” Tony sucked in a breath, coughed as his lungs resisted, and then went on. ”You want to order a pizza and watch a movie? I thought you wanted something special!”

”I do!” The green blast left his fingers and Tony barely managed to tilt his head out of the way before it hit his face plate, instead making a crater in the roof. Loki's face was a twist of odd, angry hesitation. ”I want… I…”

”What, Lokes?” Frowning behind the visor, Tony made himself sound a bit softer. ”What is it you want?”

”I want…” Sharp, white teeth gritted behind Loki’s curled up lip as he pulled his fist back, empty of magic this time. When it came slamming down, Tony caught it in his gauntlet with a grunt and a curse because fuck he was strong and he was pretty sure that repulsor was shattered to hell. But he didn’t take his eyes off Loki’s suddenly insecure face. ”I want to cook”, he finally spit out. “For you. For us…” A strained swallow moved the white pillar of his throat behind the high leather collar.

And Tony’s mind blanked for a moment while they were frozen in time and space. Then he flipped the face plate up so he could give Loki an actual smile.

”Well why didn’t you say so, tricks?”

That finally made Loki’s face split into a grin. Before he leaned down, angled his head out of the way of the visor, and placed a long, sweetly searing kiss on Tony’s lips. One Tony didn’t want to end. Ever.

Except…

”Sir, Captain Rogers will be within visual range in approximately eighteen seconds or less”, JARVIS informed him inside the helmet.

Tony moaned. ”Goddamnit”, he muttered when Loki, who had also heard the warning, pulled back. Still grinning.

He snapped the face plate back down, watched through the HUD as Loki raised himself up above his body again, fist once more glowing green.

”See you later, sweet”, Loki whispered, so softly through a grin that was all menacing teeth, and then he flickered out of existense. Just as a red, white and blue disc of vibranium came flying through the spot where he had been half a heartbeat before.


	29. Things you said when you were drunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a list of tumblr prompts. Cue angst.

Loki didn’t know what he’d expected when he followed the guy out of the club, but it wasn’t this.

No, actually, that first part was a lie – he knew exactly what he had expected. Or hoped for, at least. Because fuck, he was hot. He probably had something like ten, or maybe even fifteen years on Loki, and if not for the coke he wouldn’t have been standing up, he was so drunk. But even with his unnaturally blown pupils, sallow skin, sweat-damp hair and mouth tasting of chemicals, he was beautiful.

And Loki was very far from sober himself. A night-turning-to-morning filled with frantic, stimulant-fuelled sex was not something he was about to turn down if this guy offered. Hell no.

He was dragged to a run down, greasy kind of diner, almost empty in the late hour, where the man ordered coffee, lit up a cigarette, fluttered through a newspaper someone had left behind during the day, restless, too-quick fingers almost tearing the paper. Then some fat, black headline made him jerk to a stop. Loki caught a glimpse of something about stocks and weapons before the paper was suddenly on the floor, kicked in under the seat of the booth, and the man was giving him a manic sort of grin. Cigarette barely hanging on to his curved, plump bottom lip.

”Jesus, kid, the world is going to shit. No wonder we’re out here getting drunk. How do people even put up with it? Trying to make a difference when we can’t. It’s all pointless anyway, isn’t it? We’re all dying. Rattling bones and ghosts, right there under the skin. Some of us are just a little bit more dying than the rest.”

That’s the moment Loki knew he wasn’t getting laid.

”You’re not dying tonight, I hope.” He took a sip of his Coke. The kind you drink this time. Not the kind he’d snorted a line of right off the back of this guy’s thumb in the club’s bathroom.

”Not tonight”, the man agreed quickly. Then thought about it with the quicksilver speed of the drugs. ”Probably not tonight. I mean I might? But not very likely at all. 12% chance, tops. Although an argument could be made for 15. But you know, no, not like you need to worry. At the very least there’s time to finish this coffee. And watch a movie.” His face lit up with the sudden idea, like a boy on Christmas. ”We should totally watch a movie! We passed a theater down the street, right? Bet there’s a night showing of something. Let’s go watch a movie.”

He took a gulp of his coffee and beamed excitedly at Loki. Who could only blink back.

”You’re insane, aren’t you?”, he found himself blurting out.

The guy shrugged, unperturbed. ”It’s entirely likely. Though the jury’s still out on that one. You know who might know? Rhodey. We should call Rhodey.” He leaned back in the red vinyl seat, pulled a sleek-looking phone from his pocket and stared at it. Then he blinked, suddenly looking sad. ”No, on second thought? Let’s not call Rhodey. I’m not sure he’ll even pick up. We haven’t spoken in a while, because there was this birthday party. Mine, actually. And it wasn’t very pretty and I think he’s still pissed and we sort of blew up the living room? You know?” His pitch-black eyes came to Loki’s, questioning.

Loki found himself nodding, because sure, that happened to everyone at some point. Right?

Right…

And just like that, the neat lines of the man’s goatee were stretched into a wide smile again. ”Yeah, well, who cares anyway? Who has a happy birthday after 30? That’s when you should just stop trying.” Then he shuffled out of his side of the booth, laced his cold and clammy fingers with Loki’s and tugged him up standing. ”Now, where were we? Right. Movie! Come on, kid.”

There was a movie theater down the street. It was closed, though. The guy’s disappointed pout had truly epic proportions.

”Shit.” His shoulders slumped in the shiny, gray suit. ”There goes my plans for the rest of my night. Or the rest of my life. Whichever comes first.” He sighed, turning wide, tragic puppy eyes on Loki. ”Oh well. Guess you never wanted to watch a movie anyway? ‘Course not. Shit.” Wincing, he rubbed a palm over the back of his neck, then raked his fingers back through his hair, messing it up hopelessly.

He was adorable. Loki realized as he thought it that a desperate, dying man, drunk off his ass and high as a kite, should not be adorable. Didn’t matter though. He still was.

And suddenly he knew he really didn’t want to leave the man on his own for the rest of the night. Or the rest of his life. Whichever came first.

Their fingers were still interlaced, so Loki tightened his grip a little, making the man blink owlishly at him. ”We could still watch a movie”, he promised, smiling. ”My place, or yours?”

For the longest moment of quiet they’d shared the whole night, the guy stared at him. ”My place” he croaked at last. Then the futuristic phone was in his hand again, before Loki could blink, and soon a just as sleek car came gliding down the street to pick them up.

The man kept up a steady stream of commentary on life, the universe, and everything while they were driven out of the city. Loki followed along as best he could, barely getting a word in edgeways, and still feeling pretty entertained. Especially when the man suddenly fixed on him again, and out of nowhere mumbled ”christ, kid, you are so fucking pretty”, and then kissed him again. For the first time since the club.

It was slow, oddly chaste, and tasted more of coffee than coke this time.

His place turned out to be a fucking mansion, soaring on the cliffs above the ocean. Loki guessed he shouldn’t be surprised, what with the A+ coke and the phone and the fabulous car and all.

Though the drugs seemed to be wearing off now, leaving the guy more drunk than high, stumbling over to sprawl on a huge couch in front of a just as huge TV. Dragging Loki down more or less in top of him, at the same time digging around among the pillows for a remote, while they were discussing which movie to watch. By then the man had been going on for fifteen minutes about how they definitely should not watch Batman. Because that guy sucked. And no way were they watching that. Not even the one with the nipples and all the bad puns. Nope. Never. Where the fuck was that remote? Kid, help me out here…

Loki at last spotted the remote. On the coffee table. Making them both break down in cackles and giggles for a while before giving up on the movie idea, instead zapping between talkshows and infomercials and reruns of sitcoms, slouching down lower and lower in the couch, words growing few and slow. Until Loki was on his back on the seats, the guy curled up by his side, face buried against his chest but his dark eyes flying open every time he closed them, fingers still twitching restlessly in Loki’s shirt, the last of the coke acting up.

He turned his head and gave a sigh, hot, humid and alcoholic against Loki’s throat. ”Any chance you’re still here tomorrow? If I don’t wake up dead, the company might be nice. Unless you were a hallucination all along. You have to tell me if you are. It’s bad form not to tell me if you are. Rude. Really rude.”

”M'not”, Loki promised, half-slurred with drunken weariness, curling an arm around the guy’s shoulders so he could scratch his fingertips through that messy hair. ”M'not leaving”, he added.

After all, there was only a 12% chance this would end badly. At least tonight.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Unplanned Things](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2754677) by [schroedingersfox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/schroedingersfox/pseuds/schroedingersfox)




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